Siblings Stick Together
by G-Tri
Summary: Two siblings fall into Middle Earth, and are asked to survive the journey of their dreams. It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Agni and Jai, two sides of the same coin. They balance each other's eccentric qualities. But when they fall into a world and the first person they meet is an orc, they'll be wishing for their boring lives again.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note

Hey guys, this is my very first fanfiction so please go easy on me. Please review and constructive criticism is welcome but please don't be mean. It starts out kind of slow but please pull through and read it. Thanks! And I hope you enjoy it. Oh and the main character is Agni and her brother is Jai which is pronounced like Jay.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

* * *

Chapter 1

"Hey Jai, can you please help me with this?" I call out to my brother in hopes of some aid in finishing this incredibly easy looking trignometry problem that whenever I did, the numbers wouldn't add up.

"If it's ridiculously easy, I won't help you." He states, lumbering into my room. Even though he's two years older than me, he's only a few inches taller than my short frame. His black, unruly hair and glasses for his horrible eye sight made me suggest to him when we were younger that he should be Harry Potter for Halloween. But, alas he was Batman instead. His brown eyes, almost identical to mine except darker looked over my homework. Jai rolled his eyes and pointed out where everything went and then showed me how it all added up. "It's such an easy problem. How could you not get it?" he asked condescending, smacking me in the back of the head.

Not having a good enough excuse I answer meekly, "I forgot?" He scoffed and left going back to his own room. Spacing out, I stare at my reflection in my window. My short, thick, black hair was in a bob cut.

Because of my Indian heritage my skin was little darker than tan; it was the color of caramel. My brother and I are second generation immigrants as we were both born here in the states. California, the Golden State is our home.

I finish up my homework and begin to read fanfiction secretly on my phone because my brother gets irritated when I do, for some reason. I just LOVE reading Hobbit fanfictions. I always feel like writing my own but I never get the time and I'm afraid if I write down my ideas, they would be completely different than how I had imagined it.

I was currently reading some Fili and Kili brotherly love drabbles when Jai walks in. "Hey Agni, whatchya doin?"

"Oh, nothin' much." I reply not even bothering to try to hide my phone.

"You're reading that stupid fanfiction, aren't you?" he accuses.

"Obviously." I reply just to annoy him, "Why do you even read that crap anyways? It's all fake." My brother is more of a rational, logical thinker. He does enjoy fantasy and fiction books as much as I do. He's just not obsessed over them like me.

"Because I like to. Go away." I say dismissively.

"Haha, no." Sarcasm lacing his tone. He throws his ever present tennis ball at my wall and catches it.

I tune out the rhythmic tapping of the ball until I feel my chair begin to shake as well as my desk. I look up and see my window rattling in its frame, my reflection shaking. I swivel around in my chair and stare at Jai. We both have twin expressions of 'Earthquake'! We've had enough earthquake drills to know to shield ourselves under something. We both cram ourselves under my desk and hope that our parents were doing the same out wherever they were. We were the only ones home because our parents had gone out grocery shopping.

Jai and I flinch in unison when we hear a crack. I carefully look out from under the desk and see a rift in the ceiling. Jai jerks me back when a piece falls and crashes right in front of my desk leaving us tapped between the wall and debris. I am praying that we get out of this alive and that our parents are safe and unharmed. This was the biggest earthquake we have ever experienced. Exchanging terrified glances, Jai and I cover our heads with our hands as we hear more cracks. Suddenly a bright light flashes and we are free falling. Everything goes black.

"Unghh." I groan. My eyelids feel unimaginably heavy, my whole body is aching, and my head is pounding. Slowly my senses come back to life. My mouth tastes metallic like blood. For some bizarre reason I could smell soil and pine trees. I could hear crickets chirping which leads me to believe it's sometime in the night. I force my eyelids open and see stars. Lots and lots of stars. More stars than I've ever seen before.

I struggle to sit up and when I do, I regret it. Nausea bubbles in my stomach and I lean over to the side and throw up my lunch. Finally after it was all gone, clutching my stomach and breathing heavily I fully take in my surroundings. As far as the eye can see there were trees, trees, and more trees. I'm currently leaning against one when I hear a groan, a voice much deeper than mine. I look over startled. I gasp. _It's Jai! Oh my god! Is he okay? _My thoughts are all tangled up in concern for Jai as I crawl over to him. I kneel next to him looking own at his abnormally pale face. Considering his skin is much darker than mine, it was very concerning to see it this way. Jai slowly stirs and opens his eyes. I sigh in relief.

"Jai?" I ask quietly. He looks at me then quickly hugs me. Surprised, the first five seconds I did nothing but then squeezed him back, both of us relaying out feelings silently. Jai pulls back, then leans over retching up his lunch too. After he's done we both lean back against the tree, both of us too tired and confused to say anything yet.

A few minutes later he asks weakly, "Where are we?"

"I wish I knew," I reply despairingly. I turn my head and look at him. "What do you think we should do? Should we rest and wait until the morning and then look for civilization?"

"Yeah, let's wait. I'm barely able to stay awake right now as it is." He yawns. I nod and get as comfortable as possible. I push all my questions and curiosity to the back of my mind and pledge to deal with it in the morning.

* * *

Third Person P.O.V.

A shriek shatters the silence. Bilbo who was sneaking an apple to his pony, Myrtle, jerks his head up. "What was that?" he asks terrified.

"Orcs." Kili replies.

"Orcs?" Bilbo repeats, practically prancing closer to the dwarves.

"Throat-cutters." Fili replies, an undertone of silliness to the exterior seriousness that Bilbo unfortunately doesn't catch. "There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet, no screams. Just lots of blood." Kili finishes off. Bilbo turns, worried and look out into the night. Fili and Kili smirk at each other and chuckle at the unnecessary worry on the poor hobbit's face.

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" Thorin's booming voice causing Bilbo to turn and look between the uncle and his nephews. Thorin's cold, hard glare pinning the two young dwarves who looked completely ashamed.

"We didn't mean anything by it." Kili hesitantly replies.

"No you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin says harshly, walking away and staring out into the night deep in thought.

"Don't mind him, laddie." Balin comforts. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs." Everyone that was awake was listening intently to Balin as he began the story. "After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf Kingdom of Moria." By now the whole company was already enthralled in the story. "But our enemy had gotten there first. Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs, led by the most vile of their race: Azog, the Defiler. The giant gunda- " Balin was cut off in the middle of his sentence by a high-pitched, undoubtedly female scream followed by a roar. Several dwarves were already standing with their weapons at the ready. Everyone looked to Thorin for commands. He stared out and looked conflicted but made up his mind when he heard another scream.

"Let's go," he ordered grabbing his sword and Oakenshield and ran towargs the direction of the scream with his faithful company at his back.

* * *

15 Minutes Earlier:

I stretch out my arms groaning. I sigh, somewhat content considering the situation my brother and I were in. At the moment I figured I should be worrying about the fact that we are in the middle of a forest when we are supposed to be at home under my desk. I was too tired to be worrying about anything at the moment. I yawn again and start to shift around to get comfortable. I glance over at Jai to see if he's fine. My eyes are finally drifting closed when . . . CRACK! My eyes jolt open on their own accord. My senses are suddenly on overdrive. I shake my brother awake.

"What?!" he half moans, half snaps at me.

"Shh. Jai, there's something out there." I whisper. He still looks half asleep. Then a screech rips into the darkness. Jai finally gets to his senses and his eyes begin to dart back and forth looking for the source of the sound. Miraculously his glasses have survived so he can see perfectly fine. Both of us, terrified stand and press ourselves against the tree we were leaning on. We hear a low growling and a person talking to whatever creature that is growling. It was speaking in a language that sounded too familiar. A very bad, very impossible familiar.

It sounded like the language of the orcs. The Black Speech. _But – but that's just in movies and books. It's not real! It can't be! _While my mind is whirring it seems that my brother has recognized it from the countless times we watched the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. We had mirror expressions of shock, horror, and disbelief plastered on our faces. Suddenly a warg and its rider exploded out of the bushes in front of us. I was so startled that I forgot not to scream.

My scream was so high-pitched it even hurt _my _ears. The warg having sensitive ears growled loudly in irritation. The orc looked down on us. He gargles something out to us in English or the Common-Tongue/Westron as they call it in Middle Earth. I am just assuming we somehow managed to get ourselves thrown into a fictional world. But time to get back to the matter at hand.

"What do we have here? A brother and sister? Dwarf-scum? Mmmh, you must be traveling with the Oakenshield filth? How delicious you will be!" It practically giggled in anticipation. The orc reaches down and traces its finger down my cheek, across my jaw, and down the V-neck of my favorite plain black shirt. The feeling of its ragged fingernail touching my skin made me shiver in revulsion. Its words are lost to me.

"Hey! Don't you DARE touch her!" My poor, valiant brother tries to defend me only to have the orc slice his bicep with its dagger making Jai back away quickly, clutching his arm. _Oh dear god. I hope it's not poisoned._

Seeing the blood of my brother in the moonlight made me scream again causing the warg to growl lowly, menacingly. I gulp and back away slowly towards Jai. Knowing we are probably going to die and get eaten soon, I clutch at Jai's uninjured arm and say, "I love you."

"I love you too." Jai replies, his voice sounded terrified. Then I do the most reckless thing I have ever done. I run and tackle the orc straight off his ride. Screaming a battle cry I punch it in the face multiple times before it socks me straight on my left eye. The forces knocks me off the filthy creature. The orc is getting up and standing above me, lifting his sword above his head, it gets ready to stab me.

WHOOSH! Thud, thud, thud!

All of a sudden, there are three arrows sticking out of my opponent. _What the . . . ? _I turn when I hear a thud and a squeal and see the warg with a single arrow sticking in between its eyes. Shocked I look up to see my brother poke the warg with his toe to check if it was dead. Jai looks up and sees me.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You could have died! Are you okay?" Jai's voice going from reprimanding and angry to concerned.

"Shh. Where did the arrows come from?" I all but whisper to him, wary of our surroundings. I look at the arrows embedded in the warg and its rider and calculate its approximate trajectory. I point at the arrows and trace their path in an arc into the dark forest to our left. I quickly tip-toe to Jai.

"The arrows came from over there," I hiss. "Someone is obviously over there that can help us. Let's go look."

"No, what if they're dangerous or something?" Jai sounded cautious but I could tell it was a façade to his fear.

"Man up, dude! Do you remember what the orc said? He said Oakenshield, as in Thorin Oakenshield. He can help us if he's there." I encourage him. But then I remember something else the orc said. _Dwarf-scum. He called us dwarf-scum. Nah. Probably just because we're short. _I nod to myself and start marching off in the direction of the arrows.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note

Hey guys! I am soooo happy someone read my fanfiction! ACreativeHobbit, THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! I literally jumped around and screamed in joy when I read your review! Lasgalendil, thank you for your advice and I'll try and implement it in future chapters. I'll try and update as soon as possible, whenever I can. Thank you once again.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

* * *

Chapter 2

Kili P.O.V.

When I saw that tiny little girl tackle that orc, it took all of my being to not shout out. For such a small person, she's strong. Watching her punch the daylights out of that disgusting creature made me want to cheer her on. Until she was knocked off.

"Kili!" My head snaps up to acknowledge my name being called. It's Gandalf. "Shoot the orc before it kills her!" He exclaims. Nodding I speedily pluck an arrow from my quiver and sight my target. _Yes! _He was wide open with his arms up. Taking a deep breath, I pull back the bow string and release my breath and arrow at once. As soon as I let go of the first one, in rapid succession I send two more it's way. Then I focus on the warg which was making its way towards the boy. I release one more, right in its skull. I sigh in relief.

"Perfect shots, Kili!" Fili exclaimed clapping me hard on the shoulder.

Smirking I reply, "Of course, what did you expect?"

We begin to start our trek down the hillside of trees. "Fili! Kili!" Recognizing our uncle's voice we immediately turn and face him. "We are not going down there. We do not know why those people were attacked or if there are a threat to our quest. That is why I'm sending our burglar, Master Baggins down there to investigate." What began as a warning for us, morphed into an order for our burglar who did not look pleased at all. Uncle Thorin glared at the hobbit until he sighed and began to silently creep down the hill, weaving in and out of trees. This was going to be very interesting.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

_Oh yeah. We could use the arrows as weapons. _I turn around and walk towards the warg and pull on the arrow, expecting it to come out easily. How wrong I was. I encountered resistance, so much that I had to put my sock covered foot on the warg's head and push while I pulled out the arrow. "Skcchh." Finally it came out. I wiped it off on the warg's fur and handed it to Jai who seemed to understand what I was doing. The three arrows in the orc came out easier than the warg's skull. But they made the most sickening squelch, I almost puked again. I cleaned them off and gave one to Jai and kept the other two to myself.

I once again began my march up the hill, but this time with Jai at my side, armed (somewhat), and feeling the twigs poking my poor feet. About half-way up the hill, I begin to feel like I was being watched. It felt . . . weird but not evil. Seems like my sixth sense was kicking in. I slow down and glance around, holding up the arrows a little higher. I turn to Jai and put a finger to my lips, shushing anything he was about to say. As quickly as I can, I spin in a circle, keeping my eyes sharp and look to catch a glimpse of someone or something. And I do. I see a shock of curly auburn brown hair, its blurry for it moved speedily behind a tree.

Turning to my brother, I say in our mother tongue, "I saw someone over there but pretend like I didn't see anything. I'm gonna try and sneak up on it."

"Why?" Jai practically whines.

"Just do it." I order. _God. Sometimes it feels as if _I'm _the older one. _We begin to walk leisurely up the hill, clambering over random, oversized boulders, and making our way in between the closely packed trees. _These branched are so low. Why can't they just stay out of my way . . . waaait a minute. _An imaginary light bulb lights up over my head. "Jai," I say. "I have to pee." I'm speaking in English so whatever's watching us will understand.

Jai just looks at me then says, "Okay, go then." I nod and walk away past a couple of trees. Then I hide beind and a tree and peer over and look around and see the auburn brown hair again. Then I begin my ascent of the tree. I keep climbing until I'm high enough to see everything perfectly around. I admit, I am not afraid of heights but looking down from this tree was certainly disconcerting.

Taking a deep breath, I steel my nerves and look around for the curly haired figure or thing. _Victory! _I see this person who's been watching us and almost fall out of my tree, he's tiny. The most alarming fact is that it's wearing red and we still didn't notice it. _No, wait. It can't be. No, no, no, no. But the orc said Thorin Oakenshield. That means we are actually in Middle Earth. That means that that curly tiny creature there might be a hobbit! And there's only one important hobbit during the time of Thorin Oakenshield. _Bilbo Baggins. _Oh my god . . . _I need to get back down there. Clambering down the tree as fast as I can, I practically run to Jai. But soon I skid to a stop. I could just sneak all the way around so I'll end up behind Bilbo.

Crouch-walking as silently as I can in sock-clad feet, I stealthily make my way over to the tree where I think the person who might be Bilbo is hiding. Jai looks impatient and tired so he sits down against a tree. _Perfect. _I look over and find suddenly that I'm right behind Bilbo. _Yes, he certainly is __**The **__Bilbo Baggins. _I reach out with an arrow, my only intention to poke him and startle him. As I'm just about to touch him, my intuition call out to me, telling me to turn to my right and look uphill. As soon as I turn, I immediately drop to the ground with a thud and let out a string of expletives as an arrow whizzes by, burying itself into another tree.

Bilbo, sufficiently startled, turns and sees me on the ground. Then promptly runs off. Groaning in frustration, I pull out the arrow from the tree and follow him. Gesturing to my brother, we quickly catch up to Bilbo. "Wait, we just want to talk. Wait!" I call out, huffing and puffing. Running long distances is not my area of expertise. Jai soon overtakes me and latches on to Bilbo's red coat. He tries to keep running but Jai's just too strong for him. Panting with my hands on my knees and bent over I try to catch my breath. "Dude, seriously. I - pant – just – pant – wanted – pant – to – pant – ask you a question – pant." Poor Bilbo looks terrified, his eyes keep darting from the arrows in our hands to our faces. Realization dawns on me. Quickly I toss my arrows over to the side away from us and Jai follows suit. I hold my hands up to placate the hobbit. "See, we don't want to hurt you at all. We just need your help." My side thoughts pop up. _I'm looking Bilbo in the eye. Straight in the eye. Am I really __**that **__short? _Shaking my head, I push those unnecessary thoughts away.

"What kind of help?" Bilbo asks timidly.

"Any kind of help really. But I think first we want some shoes." I say pointing to mine and Jai's feet. Bilbo nods and starts making his way back up the hill again. Jai and I, exhausted, plop down against a tree. "Oh, and tell the person who shot these, he won't get them back until he comes down here himself and collects them from me." I say, pointing at the arrows. Bilbo nods again and I watch him go over the crest of the hill.

"What now?" Jai asks.

"Now we wait. Either he comes back or he doesn't." I really hope he gets shoes or anything to cover our poor exposed feet in.

"Well . . . why did you ask for shoes?! Of all the things you could've asked Bilbo for, food, water, warmth – you asked for shoes." Jai was practically yelling. Finally reaching my breaking point I yell back.

"Then why didn't **you** freaking speak up then, huh?! How come I had to do all the talking?"

"I just let you do all the talking because I know you like to have control but also Bilbo seemed to be more afraid of me than you." His feeble retort makes me sigh

"Then don't complain." I finish. This conversation was getting us nowhere. Now we wait.

* * *

Bilbo P.O.V.

_DWARVES! Ugh! Why did I even sign that stupid contract? Then Kili almost shoots me down. What was that? And after all that, I find out I've been running away from two children at that! _Ranting in my head, I make my way back to the company. All of them have their weapons out and are ready for anything. Panting slightly, I lean against a tree. Gandalf looks positively frustrated.

"Thorin!" Gandalf spoke, irritation flooding his gravelly voice. "We need to help those people down there. I highly doubt they will want to harm or this company."

"First we will ask Mr. Baggins what he has learned." Thorin replies, diverting all the attention ot me. "Well, Mr. Baggins. Are they a threat?"

Nervously I answer, "No, not at all. They're just children really. Brother and sister, I believe. They need help but the girl specifically asked for shoes or something of the likes." Their reactions are priceless. Slack-jawed and open-mouthed, they just stare at me. _Apparently they were not expecting that answer. _Gandalf humphs triumphantly and strides down the hill. "Oh, and Kili. She said that if you want your arrows back you have to go down and gather them yourself." Kili grins and grabs Fili's arm, pulling him down the hill. Thorin sighs and drags his hand down his face, following his nephews. The rest of the company trails behind. Guess it's time to go back down.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

I repeatedly hit my head against the tree in frustration and hopelessness. _He's ever going to come back, is he? Thorin must have gone bat shit crazy and said in his freaking majestic voice that they were not going to help us. _I sigh for what seems like the fiftieth time. I glance over at Jai. I sigh again. He's sleeping. How can he fall asleep at a time like this? I swear he can fall asleep _anywhere. _I sigh. He does look peaceful though. _Maybe I should take nap too. _Coincidentally I yawn right as that thought enters my mind. _Okay, whatever. They'll wake us up. I hope._

* * *

Third Person P.O.V.

Gandalf makes his way down the hill, his long strides making the stout dwarves hurry to catch up. Gandalf reaches the strangers, observes their state with a keen eye, and chuckles. Fili and Kili drop back behind their uncle out of respect. Thorin stops next to Gandalf and eyes the young figures breathing deeply with their eyes closed, one of them, the boy, snoring slightly.

"The girl is tiny. The boy though is bigger. They are dwarves, Gandalf. Though they have odd clothing and dark skin. Also they don't have beards. By now, at their ages I'm guessing, should have some kind of scruff on their cheeks. Something is not right here, Gandalf." Thorin stated. Gandalf nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Thorin. You are right. But let us discuss this safely at our camp rather out here in the open."

Thorin jerks his head in a nod. "Fili, Kili. Carry them." The brothers look at each other thinking the same thing. They scramble towards the girl, pushing each other out of the way. Fili shoves Kili particularly hard making Kili almost fall on top of the girl. Just in time, he catches himself in push-up position above the girl. Kili sighed in relief but stiffened when the girl moved. Everyone is silent. She was waking up. Squirming a little she yawns. She slowly opens her eyes. She blinks a couple of times and sees Kili hovering above her. She lets out a shriek and Kili quickly scrambles up and away from the poor girl.

She crawls backwards all the while watching the company of dwarves surrounding her. She had a terrified look on her face. She bumped into the boy. She shook him awake without taking her eyes off of us. The boy grumbles and pushes her away. She quickly glances at him and slaps him across the face. He jerks up and glares at her. He opens his mouth to say something but finally notices the thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard standing around them. He looks astounded. "Umm," is all he manages to say.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

Let me tell you something. Waking up to a handsome dude's face is probably amazing. But waking up to a handsome dude's face two inches away and after a traumatizing encounter with an orc, is terrifying.

After bumping into Jai and his rather unintelligent response, I decide to take some kind of action. "Um, hello." I cringe at how weak I sound. But you have no idea how intimidating a group of dwarves can be. As if sensing my hesitancy, Gandalf steps forward to speak.

"My dear young child, what are two young dwarves like you two doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"Erm, that's kind of hard to explain. Even I don't think I know." At my confusing answer many of the dwarves furrow their eyebrows, thinking. Thorin just looks more agitated. You may be wondering, why isn't she freaking out or screaming or fainting and all that jazz. Well, I think I'm having a delayed reaction. All that will come soon enough. I look at Gandalf who is hiding a smile behind his large beard. "Wait, what are you talking about? We're not dwarves. Just because we're short doesn't mean we're dwarves." Jai says out of the blue. _Yeah! Even the orc called us dwarves. _I nod in agreement with my brother.

Gandalf glances at the company and replies, "I think you are gravely mistaken. You are dwarves, if not odd ones. We are not trying to deceive you." _Mmmh. Let's compare our heights._

"How tall are you?" I ask Thorin. He just stares at me like he's trying to judge if I was being serious or not. I guess he decided I was.

"I'm a little over five foot tall." He replied, warily.

"What?!" I stood up and got as close to him as I dared and made sure to stand on level ground. I looked up at him. _No, no, no. Why did I have to become shorter?!_ But then I found a slight flaw in their statements. "Wait, then how come we don't look any different? Shouldn't we be bigger than before? You know like bigger hands and more muscles?" I stare at my miniscule hands that had apparently become more miniscule. I had noticed no changes in my brother nor me, yet at least.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Fili and Kili looking us up and down. They had puzzled looks on their faces. I backed away closer to Jai again, uncomfortable standing there by myself. "What if they're not dwarves? What if they're hobbits?" Bilbo spoke up.

"If they were hobbits, Mr. Baggins, the first thing they asked for wouldn't have been shoes." Gandalf replied calmly nodding at our feet. I was getting tired of this conversation even though I was screaming on the inside on what race we were. _Can't we just get some sleep without having to wake up to surprises all the time? _I glance over at Jai and he catches my gaze, equally as exhausted as me.

"Can't they just take us back to their camp? I'm so tired; I feel like passing out." Jai sighed. He had reverted back to our mother tongue. He sure looked like he was gonna pass out.

Immediately concerned I ask, "Are you serious about passing out?" He just gives me a look that conveyed everything I needed to know. I suddenly remember the injury the orc gave him on his bicep. Glancing quickly at his arm, I see the normally light blue shirt was stained brown with blood and the stain was growing. _I didn't think it was that bad. Just a cut. He's probably getting light-headed from blood loss. OH MY GOD! I _need _to ask them for help. They'll help us. _I turn back to the company to find them all staring at us. Ignoring their looks, I go straight to Gandalf and ask, "The orc injured my brother and he's bleeding. Can you help him, please?" My desperation leaking out on the last word of my sentence.

"Of course, child. Why didn't you say before?" Gandalf replied as he strode towards my brother who was leaning against the tree with his eyes almost closed.

"I forgot. And he seemed fine this whole time until now." I reply disappointed in myself for not noticing the pain my own brother was in.

"Oin! This young lad is in need of your expertise." Gandalf calls out to Oin, the company's designated healer. Oin hurry's forward and kneels next to my brother.

"T'is nothin' but a mere scratch. He should be fine. I'll just wrap it up and he'll be as good as new after a little bit of sleep." Oin announced while he was cleaning Jai's arm. I sighed, relief flooding through my body. _I can't believe I wanted to live in a world like this. __**Voluntarily. **__Should I ask him myself or should I wait? _Fortunately my question was answered for me.

"Um, Mr. Gandalf? May we go back to our camp so that our . . . guests can rest up and recuperate?" To my surprise it was Ori who had spoken up. Most of the company nodded, dog-tired themselves from being awoken in the middle of the night. Unfortunately my body chose that exact moment to rip a yawn out of me. Embarrassed I looked away, at the ground. I moved to help Jai up, who looked a little more awake.

"So are we actually going to get some more sleep or stand around staring at each other?" Jai whispered to me, once again in our own dialect. I whispered back.

"I have no idea, bro. I guess we're waiting on Thorin."

"Can I just sit back down, then if we're just waiting?"

"No don't, he'll make a decision soon enough." _Hopefully soon, _I added to myself.

"Yes, Ori. We all need our rest. Come along. It is not too far back to our camp." Thorin said. I was surprised he was being so compliant. I nodded and Jai and I started up the hill behind Thorin and a few of the company. Oin, Fili, and Kili were all behind us. Before I made it too far up the hill though, I was stopped by a tap on my shoulder. I turned to come face to face with a chest. I look up to see it connected to a head that was Kili's.

"My lady," he began and my cheeks warmed up. "I was told that you would return my arrows to me." _Oh yeah. Crap! _My eyes widen and I reply.

"I'm sorry. I totally forgot. Wait here, I'll get them for you." Before he could stop me, I jogged over to the tree where I had tossed them to. I counted out the correct number of five and jogged back and handed them to Kili, who looked delighted to have his arrows back safe and sound.

"Thank you." He says.

"No, it should be me thanking **you**. You saved my life and my brother's. So thank you." I blurt out. He just nods and smiles at me. I smile back and hurry away to catch up to Jai.

"What was that? How come you look so 'flushed.'?" Jai asked, doing the quotes signs with his fingers when he said 'flushed'. Only he and my family could tell when my cheeks were red because most people couldn't because my skin was dark enough that it sort of blended in with my skin.

"What the heck are you talking about?" I say, quickly. "And I'm not 'flushed'." I mimicked his finger movements.

"Whatever you say, Agni Whatever you say." Jai said, smirking. Not knowing how to respond I just huffed and walked farther away from him. Jai already knew of the small crush I had on Kili when I watched the Hobbit movies. I just hope he doesn't tell anyone.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note

Hey guys! I was so happy when I saw your review again ACreativeHobbit. I'm really very happy that someone out there likes my story. Also I'd like to thank Noxy the Proxy for your review as well. Anyways, I hope my interpretations of Kili, Fili, Thorin, Bilbo, Gandalf, etc. was up to par. Thank you and enjoy. Oh, and thank you to everyone who has favorited (not sure that's a word : / ) or followed this story.

Sorry about the lateness of my update. I had a lot of homework I hadn't actually realized I had. Also sorry about the slight shortness of this chapter.

Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

_WOO HOO! FINALLY! _I cheered in my head when I saw the dwindling campfire ahead. Jai and I were beyond exhausted and were looking forward to sleep, especially Jai. Eyes drooping, I look around the camp which looks exactly like it did in the movie. A wall of rock near the back with bed rolls spread out around the flat, clear, area of land. There was a cliff to the right, where I believe was where Thorin had stood majestically staring into the night. Jai seems to have recognized where we were as well. _There's still a lot to go._

"Agni, this means they haven't reached the trolls yet." Jai whispers.

"Shh. We can't tell them what happens ahead. I've read this is in too many fanfictions. We have changed the time continuum. We are not supposed to be here. Us just being here is changing the fabric of this story not to mention this world. We cannot change it a lot because then the outcome of the story might be different. Maybe we can tell Gandalf but no one else." Then I get a thought. _We can save them. We can keep Thorin, Fili, and Kili from dying._

"Okay, Agni. Whatever you say." Jai says. I'm surprised. He never listens to me, ever! I watch as his eyes droop and then realized that he's just too tired to care. It's seems that some of the dwarves have noticed as well.

"Here, you can use our bed rolls." Fili volunteers. He was giving up his and Kili's bed rolls.

"What? No, we can't do that. They're yours." I was nervous about them giving up their comfortable sleeping space.

"No, no. It's alright. We'll be fine without our bed rolls for a night. We'll figure something out later for tomorrow. For now, you two just get some rest." Fili insisted, smiling.

I smiled back and said, "Thank you so much. I don't know what to say."

"No, no. it's quite alright lady . . . ?" Fili trails off. _We haven't told them our names yet? _

"Oh, my name is Agni and this is," I pause and gently elbow my brother awake. "My brother, Jai." Jai nods in acknowledgment of his name being said.

Fili nods and smiles, his mustache braids swaying slightly during the movement. "Fili," Fili says.

"And Kili," Kili chimes in.

"At your service." They say together, bowing synchronized. Both of them straighten up at the same time and smile their charming smiles at me. I look away, blushing slightly. I stick my hand out and they stare at it, confused.

"You shake it." They still looked confused so I demonstrated on Jai. "Like this." I grab Jai's hand and shake it up and down. "It's a form of greeting from where I come." I stick my hand out again and Fili hesitantly reaches out, and grasps mine in his own and shakes it up and down slightly. He looks at me for conformation if he's doing it right. I smile encouragingly.

"Hey, my turn now." Kili says pushing his brother out of the way. He grips my hand and shakes it up and down enthusiastically. Kili's dwarf strength was making my arm swing this way and that so hard I was afraid it would get dislocated.

"That's great, Kili. Good job. You can stop now." I say, clenching my jaw. I tried to smile but it probably looked like a grimace. _What exactly to grimaces even look like? Are they like when skeletons smile? Or is it like a frown that's part smile? _My thoughts were everywhere, probably because of lack of sleep. Kili lets go and I put my arm down by my side. I try not to wince. _I think he pulled something. _The area right where my arm connected to my shoulder was throbbing enough to be annoying and it was going to be positively sore in the morning. It felt like it did a thousand bicep curls and then ran around flapping my arms like a retarded seagull. Kili didn't seem to notice my discomfort, which was a good thing. _He didn't exactly mean to. He's like a little five year-old that got a new toy to play with. Okay, that just sounds wrong._ Snapping back to reality I look around and see that everyone has begun to lay down on to their own bed rolls. Even Jai has already lain down onto his borrowed bed roll. "Well, good night." I say kind of awkwardly, backing away.

"Yes, of course my lady." Kili says.

"No, don't call me that. It makes me feel more important than I am. Just call me Agni." I say. Kili just nods and gives me a small smile. Sighing, I turn around and slump down onto the mat. I slowly lay down, rubbing my eyes but wincing when I come into contact with my left eye. _What the . . . Ohh. _It's from when the orc socked me in the eye. _Well, that's gonna leave a mark. _My first black eye. _Eh. _I shrug and lay down, pulling the blanket over my shivering body. I lean on my left side so as not to put pressure on to my recently injured right arm. I sigh somewhat contently, as contently as I could on an empty stomach, rocky bed, and aching body. I breathe in the smell of dirt, leather, and something else. I can't put my finger on it. It's right at the tip of my tongue. _Whatever. I'll figure it out later._ I slowly drift off into oblivion.

* * *

A few hours later.

I wake up to the smell of something fruity and the smell of gross guy sweat. Soon the sweat odor overwhelmed my senses forcing me to open my eyes. _Ewww. _Apparently, sometime during the night, I had moved closer to Jai, who unfortunately had his arm up above his head. I made a face and sat up, getting away from the pit of doom. I softly probe my left eye and my right arm, earning me winces from both of them. Fortunately my eye hadn't swollen shut. It was only bruised. I look around the camp to find it in the middle of packing up. Everyone was doing one thing or another so no one was really paying attention to us. I gently slide the shoulder of my shirt down to examine my arm. It was slightly discolored but otherwise fine. I pull the sleeve back up and slowly move my arm in a circle. I wince a fourth of the way through the rotation. Stopping, I look over to Jai and see him spread out over a considerable amount of space. _Even sleeping on a rock outside in the wilderness, he can still sleep like a pig. _Sighing, I poke him in the side. He doesn't even stir. I poke him again but harder. He still doesn't wake up. I literally shake him but still the same results.

I stare at him and observe his face. His bushy but tame eyebrows were relaxed, his mouth half open, and his eyelashes fluttering while he dreamed. He looked so much younger than his eighteen almost nineteen years. I stand up and nudge him with my toe. He just flops over to his other side. Sighing, I walk over to where everyone was packing up. I look around for a friendly face. Mostly all the dwarves were somewhat wary of me. Hey, I can't blame them. In this tight knit group, even Bilbo was more trusted than Jai and I. I spot Bilbo and carefully jog over to him. He was standing next to a pony, petting its nose affectionately. I stop a little ways away from the ponies; nervous about the big, barrel-chested, furry creatures. I hesitantly send a small wave to Bilbo, who fortunately sees and comes over.

"Hello. Good morning. How are you?" Bilbo asks.

"I'm well enough. I was wondering if I could have any water." I ask as politely as I can.

"Of course, miss . . ." Bilbo trails off much like Fili did yesterday.

"Agni and my brother's name is Jai." I answer. I should really announce my name or something.

"Ah yes. Nice to meet you. My name is Bilbo Baggins." he smiles at me. I smile politely back. "Oh, I almost forgot. Water. One second." Bilbo hurries off towards his pony and brings out a water sling. _Holy crap. How the heck do you drink from that without spilling on yourself?! _Trotting over he hands it to me and stares at me expectantly. I just stare at it, unsure what exactly to do. Seeing my confusion, Bilbo asks, "What's wrong?"

"Umm. I know this may sound stupid, but how do you drink from this?" I ask sheepishly.

"It's alright. It took me a while to get used to it as well. Here, let me hold it and you can just stand under it and I'll pour it into your mouth." Bilbo proposes.

Nodding I say, "Good idea." Since I somehow shrunk I was just as tall as Bilbo, so it was easy to maneuver into our positions. Bilbo slowly and carefully poured water into my mouth as I bent back slightly. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until now. I gulped it all down, but then tried to slow down because I didn't want to drink up all of Bilbo's water. I put my hand up to tell him to stop. I straighten up and say. "Come here. Let's go wake up Jai." Bilbo looked cautious but followed anyways. I tiptoe over to Jai to see if he was awake or not. He still wasn't awake. I gesture for Bilbo to pour a little bit of water in my hand. I begin to slowly drip water onto Jai's face. He stirs slightly but doesn't wake up. Then I just drop at least half a handful of water onto his face. It wasn't even that much water but he bolts straight up as if he was electrocuted awake. _Maybe I should have just spit on him instead. Nah, then the dwarves would see me as disgusting. Yeah, I took the right path. _"Good morning brother. Have a good sleep?" I ask innocently, putting my hands behind my back to signal Bilbo away. Bilbo silently creeps away.

"Oh shut up, Agni. You seriously had to wake me up like that? Like seriously?" Jai asks annoyed. But he also sounded a little amused which was a first.

"You weren't waking up." My voice holding all the obviousness in it. "Jai, this is Bilbo, and Bilbo, this is my brother Jai.

"Nice to meet you Jai, but unfortunately I have to go finish packing my pony. Hopefully we can talk more later," Bilbo politely excuses himself. As he leaves I plop down next to Jai and look out at the lowlands. I think my delayed reaction was finally – you know – reacting. I began to hyperventilate and my eyes narrowed to a small circle of vision. "Jai, what's going on? How did this even happen? We're not supposed to be here." Jai slowly begins to rub my back, trying to get me to calm down.

"I don't know, sis. I just don't know." Hearing such honesty in his voice, even though it was an answer I didn't want to hear, was comforting. I slowly began to breathe normally and Jai took his hand away.

"Thanks bro. Thanks." It was nice to have a rock, a person to lean on. Jai was being so strong but I know he probably had the same kind of freak out attack as me. Suddenly, I hear a growl. At first I thought it was another warg coming to get us but then I realized that it was just mine _and _Jai's stomachs. We glance at each other and break out laughing, breaking our gloomy mood. "You wanna see if there's anything to eat?" I suggest.

"Yes!" Jai exclaims.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note

**IMPORTANT! First of all, I'd like to apologize. I will be changing the main characters names. Really, really, REALLY, sorry. I know you guys will probably be mad at me, but its better that I change it now than later in the story. I'm sorry.**

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

_FOOD! _Yelled my stomach. _Ughh. Shut up. You'll have something in you soon enough. Great. Now I'm talking to my internal organs. _"You ask." I say to Jai.

"Why me?" Jai replies, annoyed.

"You're older than me. You have to do the awkward stuff."

"Yeah, but you get along easier with people than me. You ask. They probably like you more." He states matter of factly, not at all ashamed.

"Yeah, that's because I've interacted with them more. You ask them so then they'll like you too." Trying to get Jai to do something he doesn't want to do is like pushing a brick wall and expecting it to fall over.

"Come on. Just ask. Please. I know you're just as hungry as I am." He begs me. _Wow. He's really __**that **__shy? _But what he said is true. Jai's hunger was usually three times more than mine but I think today, I have reached his level of hunger.

"Fine, but only because you said please." I grumble, shuffling away towards the company.

"Oh, and ask for shoes too." Jai calls out, reverting back to our mother tongue. His suggestion annoys me to end.

"Now you want shoes? What about before when you yelled at me for asking for the same thing?!" I stomp closer to Jai so as to keep the conversation between us even though no one would probably be able to understand us anyways.

"Yeah, well back then, I didn't see it as relevant." He says, his tone uninterested. _He's riling you up on purpose, Agni. Don't respond, react. Don't respond, react. _Unfortunately, my advice to my self goes unheeded.

"So, now you do? Is it because you finally realized how much your feet hurt after freaking sprinting around in a forest?!" I clenched my fists to keep my arms from flying forward and smacking him. You see, Jai and I had a love/hate relationship. Sometimes we took care of each other but other times, we went after each other like rabid howler monkeys. If I had bruised easily then I would be covered in bruises all over but luckily, I rarely get bruises from Jai's punches. I think it's because he doesn't actually hit his hardest. We practically wrestled every day. Just trying to walk down the hall is a feat in itself because he's always blocking the way, just laying there on the ground.

"Yes, Agni. Now I realize how relevant it is to have shoes. Now can you please go get us some food and shoes? I'm starving." He sighs as if he's having to deal with a five-year old. _Oh, you don't know what starving is yet, Jai. We haven't reached Mirkwood yet._

Sighing, I turn around to see a group of dwarves standing around us. Immediately my cheeks feel warm.

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

While I was checking the saddles of the ponies, I heard a loud argument in a foreign tongue that I couldn't understand. I turn around and see our two new guests arguing with each other, practically in each other's faces. I glance over to the rest of the company and see that they have noticed too. I catch Fili's eyes and nod, moving closer. Some of the others follow suit.

I notice that both of them have their fists clenched, trying to not to hit each other. _If it came to blows we would have to intervene. But it wouldn't would it? A brother wouldn't harm his sister, right? _Well, Fili and I have gotten into physical fights before. But a female is precious, therefore no one, even her brother would hurt her.

I watch as Agni's shoulders slump, as if she's giving up. Jai has a satisfied smile on his face. Agni turns around, but jumps back, startled when she notices us watching. "Um, hey." She says.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"Um, hey." I say awkwardly. I'm pretty sure they heard us practically yelling at each other. "I was wond – I mean _we _were wondering if we could have something to eat, you know if there's anything left over. You don't have to make us anything. An apple would be fine." I blurt out nervously. _An apple would certainly not be fine. We need food. But what if all they have is meat? Then that's no good use to us. _Jai and I are vegetarians. We follow Hinduism and though there are people who do eat meat, our family follow very religiously. We can eat dairy but not any kind of meat. _And dwarves __**love **__meat. Go figure. _

The dwarves' faces turn sympathetic, especially Bombur's. "Don't worry lassie. I'll get you two something. Though you might have to hold on till lunch for a real filling meal. We had forgotten that there were more people to feed." Everyone's faces become guilty. Bombur reaches into one of the bags on his saddle and pulls out four apples. He hands me two and Jai two.

"It's alright. Thank you so much!" Jai says, surprising me. _Guess he decided to say something after all. _We immediately start munching into our apples but I make sure not to eat too loudly because; one, it's rude (not that the dwarves would care), and two, Jai hated, I mean absolutely hated the sound of food being chewed.

As we are eating, Thorin announces, "We are leaving," He walks up to Jai and I and says, "We have one extra pony. One of you will have to share." With that he strides away. Jai and I look at each other with the same thought running through our heads.

"Me." I say.

"No, me."

"I called it first."

"I was born first."

"Come on dude. You know awkward it's gonna be to share a pony with a stranger. Well, somewhat stranger." All this is going on in our mother tongue so that no one would get offended.

"It'll be even more awkward for me because I'm a _guy._" Jai emphasizes 'guy' making me actually think. _Ughh. He actually has a point. Noooooo!_ I dramatically yell in my head. I sigh and continue munching on my apple. I glance at Jai and nod. He grins and fist pumps in the air while still grasping his apple.

I turn to whoever's left which is Fili, Kili, Bofur, Ori, and Bilbo. "I'm sharing." I state quietly.

"Well, will you ride with me then, my lady?" Fili immediately offers.

I hesitate for a moment, so Kili seizes his chance. "Or me, my lady?" _Shoot. Fili. I'll pick Fili. Riding with Kili would just be much more awkward than riding with Fili. I think._

"Thank you for offering Kili, but I'll ride with Fili today." I smile apologetically. Kili's face loses some of his enthusiasm which immediately makes me feel guilty.

But he's grinning once again when he says, "It's alright. I will still be able to ask you and Jai the questions I have." _Uh oh. We still haven't told Gandalf yet._

"Haha. About that, I don't really know how to ride a pony."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note

Hey guys. I'm sorry about the abrupt change in character names. The other ones just weren't working for me. Sorry again. Oh and I'm also sorry about the shortness of the last two chapters. Thank you guys. I feel really bad for changing the names but I had to so yeah. Sorry. Okay, and _**bold italics**_ are when they are speaking in a different language and just _italics_ is the P.O.V.'s thoughts. Oh and I apologize for any typos. (Basically, this is just an apology author's note.)

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"You don't know how to ride a pony?" Kili asks incredulously.

"No, I never needed to." I reply sheepishly. _Except that one time I rode a horse at a fair when I was six. That was scary. The horse was huge and I felt like I was going to fall off of it, if the guide hadn't been there, I most certainly would have. Horses are scary. Why can't there be bicycles out here or even better, cars? _I look at the ground.

"Erm, just so you know, I don't know how to ride a pony either." Jai saves me. Everyone looks away from me at him. I sigh quietly.

"Don't worry. We'll teach you!" Kili exclaims. I smile at his enthusiasm. It seemed to be melting into me. I'm actually beginning to look forward to riding a pony. _How bad can it be?_

* * *

Half-an-Hour later:

I squirmed in my seat again. This was so uncomfortable. I'm sitting on a living, breathing, creature which is moving. Another reason that was making uncomfortable was that I was sitting in front of Fili and he had is arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me from falling. Sure, it made me feel safe, but it still felt odd. _He does have a very muscular arm though. _These past few minutes I have had urges to poke it to see how muscular his arm actually is but I've held myself back. Fortunately the jeans I'm wearing are well worn so they didn't add to my discomfort and stretched with me.

"My lady, I know it is your first time riding a pony but will you please stop moving." Fili says nicely. Immediately I stop squirming and try to relax but I can't.

"Sorry." I say quietly.

"Just lean back and relax. You'll be fine." he says calmingly into my ear. Somehow that makes me relax. I drop my shoulders and hesitantly lean back into Fili's chest. He lightly squeezes my torso. I sigh. _Fili must be an awesome brother to Kili. He's so awesome and nice. Guess he gets all this patience from Kili. _I am so comfortable, I feel my eyes begin to slowly, sag down.

Just as I'm about to float away into dreamland with the rhythmic clopping of the ponies and the steady conversations in the background when Jai calls out in our language, "_**What are you doing? There better not be any funny business goin' on**_." _Ughh. Oh my god! Seriously?!_

"_**Shut up, Jai. I'm just trying to sleep, and I can't do that when you're yelling**_." I call back, annoyance in my voice. _Like what the actual – you've got to be kidding me. _I try to fall asleep now but by now, my sleep has flown away. Bored with nothing better to do, I decide to actually poke Fili's arm. I poke it and it was like I was poking a rock with flesh on it. _Like a mossy rock, maybe? But he's not green or moist or anything. Whatever. _While I was having a conversation with myself, Fili was shaking behind me. _Why the hell is he shaking? _I turn my head as much as I can to see his face. It was completely red. I figured out he was trying to hold in his laughter. "What's so funny?" I ask, confused.

"I'm ticklish," he gasps. _OMG, what? Guess I can use that against him in the future. What the heck? Am I really planning leverage against someone I've just met?! I really need to wake up. Maybe it's a combination of lack of food and lack of sleep. I dunno. I feel like this during math class which I have right before lunch. I could literally hear my stomach grumbling out loud, with my ears. Well what else do you hear with? Anyways, it felt like a bubble was growing in my empty stomach and when it popped, I could hear my tummy rumble. Um, maybe I should stop._

"Oh, sorry." I say smiling innocently. "I'll stop poking you. But I just had to because your arm just looked really muscly." I explain.

"It is alright. You didn't know. Thank you." He grins at me. I turn back around and look around at the scenery.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you and Jai talking about earlier? You know, just a few minutes ago." A new voice asks. It was Kili.

Immediately I blush. "Oh, nothing important. Since I was almost asleep, I told him to … be quiet and leave me alone." I hear trotting and see Jai coming up to us.

"Tell them what I said, Agni. If you don't I will." _Jai is being an absolute butthole right now._

"I told you, it's nothing important." I let out, with my teeth gritted.

"_**I'm telling**_." Jays sings.

"_**I'll, … tell them your secret." **_I blurt out.

_** "What secret?"**_ He asks with a quizzical look on his face.

_**"I know it. And I will tell them if you tease me." **_I didn't actually know his secret, or even if he has one. But by looking at his expression, I guess he does.

_**"Okay, fine. I won't." **__MWAHAHAHA! VICTORY! _Jai slumps and sulks with a frown on his face as I grin triumphantly. _I think every time I switch languages, I forget about the Company. _Fortunately it was only Fili and Kili watching us. _Though, I think I saw Ori scribbling in his ginormous book with a quill and ink. How does he write with a quill? I've always wanted to. It looks cool, but it also looks tiring having to continuously dip the quill in the ink bottle over and over again._

"What was that about?" asked Kili with an amused look on his face.

"Like I said, nothing important." I say, trying smile.

"Well, I have many questions to ask you two. Why is your skin so dark?" Kili asked, not rudely but just curiously. _Well, I guess compared to his skin, we must be pretty dark._

"Um, well you see, where we come from, there's a lot of sun so over the generations, our people adapted and by growing darker skin." Jai explains without giving anything away that we were from a different world. I gave him a mental thumbs up. I glanced at Ori, who had discretely moved closer to us. He was scribbling madly into his giant tome. I smiled slightly. _He is the most adorable dwarf ever. No wonder his brothers are so protective of him. _Speaking of which, Dori was staring at me and Jai with such mistrust that I almost gasped. _Maybe Dori is just __**over**__protective of Ori._

"Oh, interesting. Also how did you get that scar on your chin?" I look at Kili, knowing this question was for me. _An astute observation, Watson. Hehe. _

I gingerly reach up and rub my scar which was in the shape of a cross. "I was in an accident. My aunt and I were riding a," I pause trying to find something to replace a scooter/moped. "We were riding in a carriage and were riding pretty fast because we needed to get somewhere. So anyways, another rider, he was riding a horse that was faster, bigger, and stronger than ours. He didn't watch where he was going and his carriage collided with us. I was sent flying and skidded on the road. My chin was scraped open and I my left wrist was bleeding severely as well. My aunt was less fortunate. She got stuck under parts of the carriage and her eye was swollen so much that I could barely recognize her. She injured her leg as well. The man who crashed in to us, unfortunately got away. I had my breath knocked out of me and I didn't know where I was for a second. Fortunately some bystanders helped us to a nearby clinic. The doc- healer there stitched me up as I was crying for my mom. You know what Jai said when I asked him why he didn't come in?

"What?" asked Fili, completely enthralled.

I chuckle and say, "He said he didn't come in because he didn't want to get sick with all the germs there. But later, actually quite recently I found out the real reason he didn't want to come in. He thought that my face was going to be all messed up and disfigured." I'm still chuckling when I finish. "Oh and this is also a scar. Many people think it's really a birthmark." I say pointing at a blob of darker skin on my left wrist.

"Do you like your scars?" asks Kili hesitantly.

"Yes, of course. I don't want them to ever fade away." I say somewhat proudly.

"Well, that was a very remarkable story. If I may ask, how old were you at the time?" Fili asks politely.

"Oh, I was seven years old." I answer nonchalantly.

"Seven?! MAHAL! Ye were just a wee babe!" Exclaims Fili, is thunderous voice vibrating through his chest into my back.

"I was pretty young. But I wasn't as young as you think. Dwarves age slower than humans, right?"

"Yes but you're not human. You're a dwarf." Kili says.

"Yes, I'm not too sure about that still. But anyways, we were human when we landed here." I say gesturing at Jai and I who was just silently watching the scene unfold with a smirk on his face. "I'm turning seventeen in a few months and Jai is turning nineteen in a few months as well." Gasps filled the air. _Oh no. Now they're going to treat us like babies._

"My dear. You two are so young. I would have thought you to be close to Fili and Kili's ages." Bofur calls out. _Guess we have a bigger audience than we realized._

_**"Well, everyone did always say that we looked older than we actually were." **_I say to Jai.

_**"No, everyone always said that to you." **_Jai retorted.

Trying to keep my giggles in, I reply, "Ohh, yeah. Right." By now my shoulders were shaking from the exertion of keeping my giggles in. I turn away from Jai and look around into the surrounding scenery. It was beautiful. Spring time here was amazing. Fuchsia, blood red, violet, and lavender colored flowers bloomed around the path. But mostly all you could see was trees. _I wish I could take a picture. Wait a second … I always have my phone in my pocket. Is it still there? _I slowly and hesitantly reached down to pat my right pocket, trying not to bring my hopes up. I sigh, miserable, it wasn't there. _Wait another second … _I pat my other pockets and find wonderful, modern stuff. I found lip balm, one paperclip, and a pocket knife.

_Why the hell do I even have a freaking pocket knife in my pocket?! Because it's a __**pocket **__knife. Duh. I should have checked my pockets earlier. Paperclip. At least I won't be losing any __**important**__ papers right? Pfft. A paperclip. Seriously. And lip balm. I suppose I won't ever have chapped lips like Frodo and Sam did when they were in Mordor. That was just … painful to see._ I hear a rumbling and see the sky filled with clouds. _Oh no. It better not rain. Nope. I love rain, but not being soaking wet. Oh no. I don't even have a spare set of clothes. Ugh. _I tilt my head back to look at the sky better but instead smash it into Fili's chin. "Ow!" I exclaim.

"Ow!" says Fili at the same time, letting go of me to rub his chin. Suddenly unbalanced, I tilt and fall off of the pony and onto the hard-packed dirt of the path.

"Omph." I let out as I face plant into the ground and the air gets knocked out of me. I slowly roll over onto my back, gasping. I probably looked like a fish right now, trying to get air back into my lungs. _All that's left it the gills._ I think wryly. My fall had unfortunately spooked the pony Fili and I were on causing it to rear onto its hind legs, knocking Fili off the pony as well. Fortunately, the pony didn't bolt. _Whew. Thorin would have killed me if that had happened. _Fili and I are both groaning on the ground now. Having been the first to fall, I stand up first. I will probably be black and blue all over by tomorrow. _First my eye, then my arm, now this. Great. Just great. _I slowly make my way to where Fili is laying and extend a hand to help him get up. He looks up at me and grasps my hand, pulling himself up and almost pulling me down. _Oh my god. I'm so weak. Or maybe he's just too strong. Maybe I'm weak and he's too strong? No wonder I almost fell over._

"I'm sorry." I say, regretfully looking down. _I've only been here for a day and I've already hurt (or partially hurt) a member of the freaking royal family. Now Thorin is __**really **__not going to like me._

"It is alright, Agni. It's not your fault. And I've fallen harder before." Fili says, trying to make me feel better.

"Agni! What happened?! Are you okay?" Jai yells. He actually sounded worried. What a surprise.

"It's okay Jai. I'm fine. I just fell off the pony." I explain, turning to face Jai. I come face to face with fur. I hurriedly step away from the furry creature which happened to be a pony. More specifically _Thorin's _pony. I'm in real deep doo doo now.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note

Hello my fellow humans. Enjoy this chapter. WARNING! There's an extremely cliché moment in this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

* * *

Chapter 6

Agni P.O.V.

_OH CRAP. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm never getting out of this one, am I? _I'm whimpering in my brain. Currently I'm staring up, forebodingly at Thorin. He has a furious look on his face. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Thorin shouts at me. I'm quivering under his glare.

"I- I didn-n't m- m- mean t- t –"I try to stutter out an answer.

"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HIM, MY NEPHEW!" He keeps hollering at me. He lifts his arm as to hit me. I duck as I hear his arm whistling by above my head. Years of practically sparring with my brother left me with good reflexes. I hurriedly step back, away from Thorin and his pony. I stare at Thorin, feeling betrayed somewhat because I thought he was a nice, sort of understanding dude, but apparently not. Thorin also has a betrayed look on his face but it is directed towards his arm. I quickly glance towards Jai and see that his look of worry has transformed into fury. Jai and I exchange glances and I slowly make my way to him. As soon as I'm close enough, I grab his hand and pull him off his pony and we take off at a sprint straight into the forest.

"We need to stay away from the company. You said yourself, we're changing the story. Plus, it's not safe for you." Jai lets out super-fast. I just nod as we turn, running parallel to the trail. _Aww. I was looking forward to getting to know them. _I am hugely disappointed but try to focus on breathing evenly so I can keep running.

"Jai, let's climb a tree so we can see where they are and if they even care where we're going." I huff bitterly.

"Good idea. " We stop together and look for a suitable tree to climb and see the perfect one with branches close to the ground and enough to climb high. I can't feel my feet. They're probably shredded by now. Both of us start climbing at the same time but at different sides of the tree. _Step, push, reach, pull. Step, pull, reach, pull. _That becomes my mantra for the next few minutes and by the time we're high enough, Jai and I are exhausted. I slump down on to a branch with my back to the trunk of the tree and my arms gripping tightly to two branches above me.

"Jai, do you see anything?" I ask, breathing deeply.

"Let's just wait a few minutes. Let me catch my breath." He says, tiredly.

"K." _So much exercise. Oh my god. At this rate, I'm gonna fall over soon. Bad idea when you're in a tree. Right. _I slowly pull myself up and look out to the trail, my eyes searching for any sign of them. _Aha! There you are! _I spot them turning the bend of the curving trail. I watch them, curiously. I see Thorin at the front arguing with Gandalf. Next I see Dori and Ori, Dori who had a satisfied look on his face. _What the heck? How can I see the so well? Maybe being dwarv-ish gives you better eyesight as well. Who knows? _I see Balin looking the exact opposite of Dori. He urges his pony ahead and comes in line with Thorin. He looks like he's giving Thorin a lecture. I laugh silently at the look on Thorin's face. He looked like a child being reprimanded for breaking the rules. "Jai, I can see them."

"Ok. What do we do now?" He asks, sighing.

"Maybe we could try and get to Rivendell?" I suggest.

"We're probably really far away, Agni. The movies shorten the time it actually took them to reach Rivendell." _He's right. I hate it when he's right. Why is he always right?! _

"You're right. Maybe for now, let's just follow them. We could eat tree bark like Les Stroud does in Survivorman."

"Only you can make this seem like an actual adventure." Jai replies, sighing.

"No. We are not on an adventure. Not anymore. Now we are only surviving." I say, ominously.

* * *

Thorin P.O.V.

_What have I done? I almost struck a female. A child at that. I would have too, if she hadn't moved._ "What have I done?" I repeat out loud, stopping Balin mid-lecture.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you laddie?" Balin says, disappointedly.

"Balin, what have I done?" I ask, my voice betraying my true feelings.

"You can still fix this, Thorin. We can send out a few of us as a search party. I doubt they could have gone far. They were tired, hungry, and they weren't wearing any shoes. But, they are smart too. Agni and Jai probably stuck close to the trail, as to not lose their way. We need to help them, Thorin. They are just children." Somehow what Balin said has given me comfort and revived my confidence. "But listen well, Thorin. They will try and run away again because they have lost their trust in us. We need to send the most comforting and nicest of all of us. That means, we should send someone who they can connect with. You know which two I'm talking about." I nod.

"Fili, Kili, Bofur, Dwalin. I want you all to go out and search for Agni and Jai." I order. Dwalin just nods, but Bofur looks uncertain and Fili and Kili look confused but happy at the same time. All of them trot their ponies up to where I have stopped.

"How do we know they have not just gone off into the blue?" Bofur questions. All of them nod in agreement.

"Balin, explain to them your judgment." As Balin explains his reasoning, I scan the tree line. A flash of blue catches my eye. _They __**are **__clever. _I turn to the group and say, "Do _not_ look but there is a pine tree to my right. I just glimpsed something there that could be them. Be careful as to not spook them for they might fall out of the tree." I explain. They all nod and set off on foot into the forest. I turn to the rest of the company and announce, "We will stop here for tonight." I point at a clearing close by.

* * *

(A/N Cliché begins. : P )

Agni P.O.V.

I slump down again. I just sit there and close my eyes, listening to the sounds of nature. Then I hear a scream. "Agni!" _No ... _As quick as I can, I stand up and practically run to the other side of the tree where I see Jai hanging off the branch.

"Jai!" I scream, not caring if the company heard me. I lay down across two branches and reach out to Jai. "Grab my hand, Jai. Please." He tries to reach my hand and latches on to my fore arm as I do the same. I struggle to pull him up. _He's so heavy. No, I'm just a weak little girl. Come on, Agni! You can do this! You have to!_ I encourage myself in my head as I use all the strength I have. I reach down with my other hand and am now pulling with two arms instead of one. _Much better, _I think as slowly begin to pull him up, grunting. Jai is also pulling himself up at the same time with the arm which is holding on to the branch which makes my progress faster. I finally drag him onto the branch and he pulls himself up to a seated position.

_**"Brother." **_I sigh. _**"Don't ever scare me like that again.**_

_** "Yeah, I don't want to be scared like that again either." **_He replies breathing heavily.

_**"Let's get out of this tree now. They probably heard us anyways." **_I suggest.

_**"Yeah, you're right." **_We slowly but surely make our way down the tree.

What's waiting for us is not what we expected. There, sitting around the tree were Fili, Kili, Bofur, and Dwalin. "Uhh." Is all I can say at the moment because I sincerely thought that they were just going to let us go on our merry way, but apparently not. Kili is the first to rise. He holds out his hands up in a placating gesture as if we were scared of them. But he's not even looking at me. He's focused on Jai. Confused, I look over and see Jai's face contorted in fury. _What the hell? Overprotective brother mode initiated._

"We're sorry for unc- for Thorin's actions and we really believe that it would be better for you to come with us. I won't let it happen again." Kili says slowly but confidently. I skooch over to Jai and pat him on the back.

_**"Jai, the odds are not in our favor if we don't go with them." **_I say, semi-quoting The Hunger Games. He's still has his gaze fixed on the dwarves but smirks a little at my statement.

_**"Fine, but Agni, if you are at all in any kind of danger, I will not hesitate to hurt them. Even if I'm ten times weaker than them, I will still do it. Understand?" **_I nod in understanding but am slightly freaked out by this new attitude. Even when there was some kid at school teasing me because of my shortness, he never interfered. He's never actually ever stepped into the stereotypical older brother role that I always kind of wished for. _He never had to. It's not like you're allowed to date or anything._ My dad always said that I would be allowed to date, after I got out of college, had my own car, and my own house. We weren't really allowed to date because our parents were sort of old school and wanted us to "focus on our studies and getting good grades and not any of that other nonsense stuff." Well, I agree with them. _It's not like I even had a chance with anyone._ I look to the dwarves and nod, silently agreeing. I didn't trust Jai to speak because if he did, he'd probably say something extremely offensive and get us beat up by the scary, tall, bald, tattooed, dwarf. Dwalin. He scares the crap out of me. _He would probably be less scary if he had kept his Mohawk._

All of them looked surprised but didn't say anything. We began another trek back to the company. _I think my feet are dead. Still don't even have any shoes. _I frown as we continue walking. _I'll be surprised if I even have any feet by the time we get back. _I was too scared to even look at the bottom of my feet in fear of what I'll see. _It's probably shredded up like a carrot. _Ugh. I should stop thinking about this now or I'll probably puke. Again. I shudder in revulsion of the idea of even throwing up again. _Enough with the puking already, jeez. _


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**

** Hello guys! Sorry about the really late update. I had some major homework to do. Thank you ****ACreativeHobbit ****for commenting on every chapter I've uploaded and everyone else who has reviewed. And thank you ****ErinSpoons****, ****Purple-Luv's-Green-Hates****, ****ashthetyto****, ****blushingpixie****, ****luvgirl101****, ****nbowles****, and ****purpleclaw37**** for following. I'm sorry for not putting 'thank you's' in front of the other chapters. I forgot. The romance will be slow-going. I'm not sure how to play it out, considering this is my very first fanfiction and I'm not very experienced in this kind of thing. Any advice is appreciated. Anyways, enjoy this chapter and review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

By the time we get back to the camp they have set up, I am about to fall over from the loss of feeling in my feet. I'm straggling along behind Dwalin and Bofur as Fili and Kili walk behind us. I turn to Jai and say, "_**Dude, do you think they'll help fix our feet?**_" I look at my feet as I focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

Jai glances at me before looking at his feet and saying, "_**Yeah, probably. You'll just have to ask.**_" I just nod in answer. When I look up, I practically cry in relief. I see the warm fire flickering in the middle of the clearing as the company sits around it. I see the perfect spot for me and Jai to sit and/or sleep. I walk as fast as I can to the spot I've picked which isn't too close or too far from the fire and it also wasn't too close to the dwarves either. Just because I trust them, doesn't mean I am comfortable around them yet. I carefully sit down on to the dry dirt beneath me and sigh. _Time to see what exactly has occurred to my poor feet. _I pull my knees up close to my chest and begin to pull the sock - which was originally white but was now brown - off the sensitive soles of my right foot. I slowly pull off the fabric an inch of skin at a time. The skin now emerging to fresh air was swollen and tinged a dark color. In this light, only thing I could tell that it was black and blue, signaling that it was bruised as well. I carefully probe the bottom of my foot only to encounter ripped skin and after pulling my fingers away, blood. _Oh crap. This ain't good. No, this ain't good at all. _I do the same to my other foot and find the same results.

I look around for Jai and find him sitting next to me, looking very much like a guard dog. "Jai have you looked at the bottom of your feet yet?"

"No," his distracted voice says.

"Well, you should. It's probably as bad as mine." I say, despondedly.

"Seriously, are yours really _that_ bad?" Jai asks, his attention suddenly turning towards me. He leans over and carefully examines my feet. "Oh my god, Agni. Your feet are ruined." He says, concern flooding his voice.

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, I'm gonna go ask for some help." Jai says confidently. "How did you even walk so far like this?" he mutters to himself. I just shake my head and go back to carefully prodding my feet. Slowly as the adrenaline seeps away, I begin to feel all my injuries and ailments again. First, the throbbing headache, then the black eye, after that my right arm that Kili wrenched. Last but absolutely not least, my feet. I hear cracking twigs and look up to see Kili walking over to me. Immediately I look back at my feet, secretly blushing.

"Hello," he says, shyly.

"Hey," I say back, hesitantly.

"Hay? Why … do you need hay?" he asks confused. Seeing the look on his face, makes me crack up in giggles, my shoulders shaking.

"No, it's H-E-Y," I spell out for him. "It's form of greeting from where I come from. You know, like hi and hello." I try and explain to him, but he seems to comprehend.

"Ah. I understand now. Well, how are you?" he asks, with a sincere smile on his face.

Being distracted by his charming smile, my brain-to-mouth filter malfunctioned and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Horrible."

Immediately, like I flipped a light switch, Kili's face goes from relaxed and focused to concern. "Why? What is wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just my feet." I answer, under exaggerating my actual pain.

"Oin! Get over here! Miss Agni is injured." Kili calls out. I turn to see Jai there, with Oin already. To my amusement, Jai seems to be battling two equally strong emotions, extreme annoyance and intense relief. My chuckle fell on unknowing ears, fortunately. Oin and Jai begin walking across camp to where Kili and I are sitting. Kili turns back to me and I give him a small smile.

"Thanks."

"It is not a problem, my lady." He says inclining his head. To his surprise and even more, my surprise, I scoff.

"Don't call me 'lady'. I'm hardly a lady." I reply, in explanation of my scoff.

"Alright, if you like, my la – Agni." I nod in approval. Suddenly, a thought pops into my head.

"Um, but am I supposed to call you Prince Kili or my lord or something like that?" I blurt out. _oh crap. He never told me he was a prince. Holy crap. Please don't notice, please don't notice, please don't notice, please don't notice. _Just as Kili opens his mouth to reply, Oin and Jai arrive and Jai plops down onto the ground next to me, forcing Kili to scoot over.

"Well, lassie. Let's see what we have here." Oin says gently. I extend my right foot towards him.

As he examines it, I say clearly into his ear trumpet, "Um, Oin? My brother needs some help with his feet as well." Oin just nods in acknowledgment.

"I'm going to have to clean this out so it doesn't get infected. Let me warn you though, lassie. It will sting. A lot. I'll give you some rum to numb the pain a bit." Oin explains. My eyes widen at the mention of rum.

"Um, no I don't need rum. I'll be fine." I say. I don't want to drink any alcohol. I'd just gotten my driver's license and I don't even like the smell of alcohol. Or even the taste. Once when I was younger my dad let me taste his wine he was having at his party we had gone to. It was horrible. I don't even want to mention that I don't want to get drunk. I've read a lot of books or whatever that a hangover sucks.

"Are you sure lassie? The rum will numb your pain to it so you won't have to feel it." Oin tries to persuade me again but I shake my head vehemently. "Alright, suit yourself." Oin pulls out a little bottle filled with a clear liquid which I presume was alcohol. Oin pours some of the alcohol out onto the soles of my feet causing me to shriek and grab onto the first thing in my reach which was, Jai's forearm. I squeeze as hard as I can while clenching my teeth as to not let my screams out. I hear Jai grunt in which sounds like pain, but I couldn't be sure because I had my eyes screwed shut and all of me tense waiting for the pain to go away. It was pure happiness when the pain finally abated and I relaxed, releasing Jai's poor arm. I looked to see Oin rubbing a soothing balm over my foot. Which then made me remember that he still had to do my other foot. _Noo! Why couldn't he do both at the same time? Here we go again. _I brace myself against Jai and get ready to take the pain. _Well, Jai has to go through this too. I guess he'll know then why I'm practically bruising his arm. Oh well. It'll be over soon. Right?_


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**

** Heylloo guys! Thanks for the awesome reviews and follows/favorites! This chapter literally spouted out of my fingers as I typed. Sorry for the lateness. Lots and LOTS of studying and other shtahf. (stuff LOL) Anyways, ENJOY!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

I sigh as I finally lay down after that excruciating bout with pain. _If alcohol can hurt that much on a wound, then how much is it messing up people's insides? I'm never drinking alcohol. Not even wine! _I cross my arms behind my head and look up at the beautiful night sky, generously sprinkled with stars, sparkling brightly. _We're like diamonds in the sky. Hehe. Rihanna. I wonder … hehe. I hope we can get back home. Though being in my favorite story ever, I can't stay here forever, right? _I sigh again. I close my eyes and hope for a nice, peaceful sleep. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I hear a loud clanging and packs rustling. Smelling something like stew of some kind. _Looks like they're having dinner. Should I get up and ask or what? What about telling them about being vegetarian? Oh no. Are they going to get all mean on us and call us elves or tree shaggers and what not?_

I look around for Jai and find him leaning against a tree nearby with his eyes closed. His face looked serene ever since he had gotten his feet patched up. Unfortunately for him, I shattered it. "Psst. Bro. Psst. Dude, Jai." I whisper yell. His face scrunched up as if he was deeply thinking about something. _He must be thinking that he's imagining my voice. Haha. _I chuckle then whisper yell out again. "Hey, dude. Come on bro!" I finally give up on the whispering part and my voice reaches normal level his eyes jerk open and search for me. When he finds me, his glare is turned on full blast actually making me cringe. Trying to appease his anger/annoyance, I ask him, "Aren't you hungry?" he looks confused then remembers.

"Oh yeah …" he says quietly.

"You forgot? YOU?" I exclaim incredulously. He eats like a starving elephant at almost every meal. _Maybe with everything going on, he just didn't think about it. Well I didn't really think about it when alcohol was being poured on my bleeding feet, so it makes sense. _"Whatever. It doesn't really matter right now. What we need to worry about is w_hat _we are going to eat."

"What do you mean?" he asks, still kind of out of it.

"Um, the fact that dwarves absolutely love meat and we are basically the opposite of that." I say sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah." He says again. "You can ask them."

"Uh, yeah. No. I did last time. Your turn."

"But, I told you. They like you better." He says desperately.

"Well, I think at this moment, a lot of them may hate me. Remember, the whole knocking their crown prince off the pony incident. They all probably are wondering why we're even back. Especially Thorin." I mumble the last sentence under my breath, so no one but Jai would hear.

Jai looks at me ruefully then says, "Fine. I'll ask and tell them of our ... predicament." I nod my thanks to him as he gets up on his knees and walks over (more like half-crawls) over to their campfire. Oin had practically ordered us to not walk around on our feet for the rest of the night and until he said so. I watch with a smile on my face as he makes it there and timidly pokes Bombur on the shoulder. I watch in fascination as Jai's finger continues going into Bombur's shoulder. _Wow. How does he even walk around? _Jai quickly pulls his finger away, looking embarrassed. Bombur turns and look at Jai. A large smile stretches across his face as he says something to Jai. As they continue on in their conversation, I look around at the rest of the dwarves. Most of them are having conversations but Gloin and Dori were sitting together glaring at Jai, talking, and gesturing angrily.

_What's their problem? Do they just not like anyone who is not a dwarf? Like what the hell?! _I choose to ignore them and carry on in my people watching. I feel heavy eyes on me and catch Gandalf's sparkling blue eyes. He smiles gently, gets up and walks over to me. "Hello, young one. I have been observing and have found many things interesting about you and your brother." I smile uneasily, looking up into Gandalf's eyes.

"Yeah, well we've been meaning to talk to you as well." I say, quietly, instantly my shy side coming out. I usually get shy around adults like teachers or just adults in general and Gandalf fit the bill perfectly. Exactly on time, Jai pops back in sitting dropping down next to me. Apparently he had heard my sentence and nodded in agreement with me. Gandalf looks at each of us, then nods extending his hand and waving us on. "Continue. You may go first."

Nervously I glance at Jai. He nods encouragingly. I take a deep breath and begin," Well, you see, the thing is that we," I point at Jai and me, "aren't from anywhere on Middle Earth. In our world you all are just fictional characters in books and movies." I pause and wait for Gandalf's reaction. It was certainly not what I was expecting. A huge grin spread across his face as he bellowed out a thundering laugh. Confused, I look at Jai. He's just as confused as I am. We turn back to Gandalf as he is calming down from his laughing fit.

"My, that was most hilarious. Haha. Now, tell me really what you are meaning to say." Gandalf says still smiling. But seeing the expressions on our faces his smile slowly fades away. "You cannot be serious?" he questions.

"Of course we're serious. We wouldn't just lie about something as serious as this." Jai says earnestly. Gandalf's eyes flick back and forth between us as what we have said actually sink into his brain.

"Well, then this really complicates things. Explain to me from the beginning exactly how you got here." Gandalf says, thoughtfully scratching his beard.

"There was an earthquake and we thought we were goners. Our house crashed down on us and then we, I suspect, were knocked out and we landed here. Soon after we … arrived we encountered the orc and the warg. Then you saved us and now we're here." Jai summarizes.

"That explains why you speak and sound differently than anyone else here." Gandalf mutters mostly to himself.

I suddenly remember something and I blurt it out, "And we shrunk." Gandalf's eyes snap up to mine, as he finds something interesting about my statement.

"By how much?" he asks.

"Umm, a lot since I'm as tall as Bilbo now. How tall is Bilbo?" I answer with a question.

"I believe he is about 3 feet tall." I almost fall over when I hear Gandalf's answer.

"THREE FEET?!" Jai and I yell at the same time

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

"THREE FEET?!" I hear people yelling and look up from my delicious stew. There, Agni and Jai are staring at Gandalf with incredulous looks on their faces.

I nudge Fili and say, "What do you think they are talking about over there?"

"I don't know," Fili shrugs. "But it probably has to do with three feet." _Why would they be shocked by three feet? Does they mean three feet as in body parts or in measurements? _I just shrug to myself and return to my stew. _Mmh. Delicious. I should remember to compliment Bombur later._

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"That means we shrunk almost two entire feet." I practically whisper.

"Twenty-four inches." Jai breathes.

"Sixty centimeters." I say back.

I look at Jai in astonishment. _OH EM FREAKIN' G! We're like, freakin' MIDGETS! HOLY SHIT ! How is this even possible? Magic? Does inter-dimensional travel usually shrink people? People don't _usually _travel inter-dimensionally ANYWAYS! What have we gotten ourselves into?_


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note**

** Hey again! ****Noxy the Proxy,**** I'm glad my story brightened your day, (somewhat :P). To all y'all, Hello, Hola, Bonjour, Namaste, Kon'nichiwa, Nǐ hǎo, Dia duit, etc. (Sorry if any of those are wrong. I got them straight from Google Translate.) Anyways, enjoy this chapter, Bye, Adios, Au revoir, Alavidā, Sayōnara, Zàijiàn, Beannacht etc. Teehee! :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P **

_Italics _= thoughts (and sometimes to emphasize things)

_**Bold and Italics**_ = Jai and Agni's language

Regular = everything else

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

_Bombur is AWESOME! _I think as I scoop some more of the stew that he made for us. What he had done was add the meat last so we could get a bowl or two and then the rest of them could enjoy their meaty stew. He had set some aside for us while we were speaking with Gandalf. Surprisingly, using wooden utensils wasn't too bad. I sigh contently as I set aside my bowl, finished. I lean back on my hands and look around as everyone is having before bed conversations. I catch Kili's eye and he sends me one of his charming smiles. I glance away blushing before I send one back. _I don't think he realizes what an affect he has on me. _I look next to him and Fili sends me a charming smile as well, but it doesn't work the same way Kili's did. I send him what I think of as a sweet smile and look away and at the rest of the camp.

I see Ori scribbling away into his large journal again. _I wonder if I'll be allowed to look into his book at all. Probably not, considering how secretive dwarves are. He's probably written about Jai and I already, hasn't he? I wonder what he's written; maybe about my accident and where we came from. _I watch as his focus never wavers as he continues writing away. _I wish I could do that with homework instead of watching YouTube videos._

My sixth sense comes alive as I feel angry eyes on me and I glance around and find Dori glaring at me. He must caught me staring. He moves as if to get up but a hand on his arm stops him. It's Nori. He says something reassuringly to Dori and stands up instead. Dori continues looking disgruntled but nodded sharply and made no move to get up again. I sigh, the tension I didn't know was there, seeped away. I was more nervous about Dori than I was about Nori but, I've read about how skilled he is with pick pocketing and knifes.

_I hope he doesn't notice my ring. _I never take off my gold ring which is from my mom; she gave it to me because I share her love of rings and it was an old one she wasn't using. It was a thin circle with a design along the front of it.

I watch as Nori steps over legs while joking around with some of the others as he came over to me. Jai was still eating his stew, slurping it down, so he wasn't really paying attention. With his starfish hair flopping slightly, Nori sits down cross-legged in front of me, prompting me to do the same. I keep any pressure off of the soles of my feet as I look at Nori.

"Dori doesn't seem to like you." He states.

"Yeah, I've noticed." I reply, dryly. He quirks an eyebrow at that and I quirk one back.

"Do you know why?"

"Um, because I'm new? Or is it because we don't look like you? Or what?" I list out my possible theories. The whole time, Nori is nodding as if in agreement.

"Yes, I suppose those some of the reasons he doesn't like you?" At that my mouth falls open of its own accord.

"Some? That makes me feel _so_ much better." I say sarcastically.

"Ay, you should feel lucky." He retorts sounding slightly offended.

Sufficiently confused I ask, "Why?"

"Because I came instead of him." Nori answers simply. I think deeply about it and decide that he's one hundred percent right. I sigh as I nod, agreeing with him. He gives me a short nod with a satisfied look on his face. He leans closer to me, gesturing with his hand to come closer. When I get close enough, Nori whispers in my ear, "Just one more thing; stay away from Ori. Dori will go bonkers. He's very protective of him because he's the baby."

"More like _over_protective." I whisper while rolling my eyes.

"That may be true, but just heed my warning, alright. I like you, yer cheeky. I don't want you to get hurt." Nori whispers sincerely.

Feeling gratified and lucky I answer, "Alright. Thank you."

Nori leans away and says, standing up, "My pleasure, lass." As he walks away, I chuckle quietly.

_**"What did he say?" **_Jai asks. I scoot closer to him so we can talk easier.

_**"Nothing, except to stay away from his little brother otherwise his older brother will get mad." **_ I refrained from using their names in case someone was listening.

Jai snorts. _**"So he's on our side by warning us about how his older brother doesn't like it when we **_stare_** at his younger brother?" **_ he says derisively.

I laugh a little. _**"Yeah, pretty much. But how would you feel if some stranger came into our family and liked staring at me?" **_I try putting Jai into Dori's shoes. _He'll understand._

With a thoughtful look on his face, he answered,_** "You're right. I guess I would feel the same way." **_

"I'm always right." I say smugly. He retaliates by pushing me; I'm just giggling the whole time.

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

_This isn't _that _creepy, right; just staring at her? _I think as I watch Agni talking to her brother and laughing. _She captivates me. _I nearly fall over when someone nudges me. I look over and see Fili smirking.

"You're staring again." Fili looks at Agni, then speaks again. "But I understand why. She is truly enchanting. And she is a fun person to take a pony ride with." His last sentence makes me scowl.

"How come they always choose you? They never even look at me." I mutter under my breath but loud enough for Fili to hear. My head hangs low with my elbows resting on my knees.

He gets a piteous look on his face as he slings his arm over my shoulders. "Don't worry brother. I am sure tomorrow she will choose to ride with you. In fact I guarantee it. You know, if Uncle allows it seeing as what happened today with me. If he does not, I'll make sure he allows it. And trust me, you will have fun. She's very … inquisitive." I just nod and try to bring my spirits up.

"Alright brother. Thank you," Is all I say.

Fili takes his arm back and claps twice in quick succession. "Let us rest now. It has been a long day." He says to me. I nod as I lay down with my arms crossed beneath my head. A thought pops into my head. I tilt my head to look at Fili.

"Aye Fili," I whisper.

"What?" he asks, turning his head to look at me.

"What was Nori saying to Agni?"

"I don't know but whatever it was, it couldn't have been that bad, right? She looked fine after he left. She was even laughing. If it was anything serious, then she wouldn't have been laughing right?" Fili's logical reasoning puts my worries to rest. I just nod back and turn my head to look up at the stars. Sighing, I close my eyes and plummet into my dreams.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

I wake up to birds chirping and the sun on my eyelids forcing me to wake up. Before I open my eyes, I rub the crustiness out of them. I sit up and stretch out my arms and legs from their curled up positions. I let out a quiet moan of pleasure as my sore muscles made themselves comfortable. Looking around I see Jai with his borrowed bed roll tangled up with his arms and legs everywhere. His head was tilted at an odd angle and his mouth was wide open. _He probably had a lot of different types of bugs crawl into his mouth overnight. Eww._

A quiet but enthusiastic voice calls my attention elsewhere. Feeling a tap on my shoulder I turn to see Kili standing there, rubbing his hands together nervously. "Hello," he says.

"Good morning!" I say, surprising myself and him with my cheerfulness.

Suddenly it's as if all his nervousness has been washed away as he grins at me. "Good morning! I was hoping you'd like to ride with me today?"

"Yes, of course!" I exclaim before I lower my voice for the next part. "But will Thorin let me? You know, because of the fiasco that happened yesterday when I was riding with Fili. I don't think he wants the same to happen to his other nephew." I blurt out.

Kili keeps on grinning but his eyes are casting a determined glow now. "Don't worry about him. We're going to have a lot of fun." This fun loving-ness of his is what made me like Kili so much. He's so care free and happy. I sigh contently in my mind as I try to keep my conversation going with Kili.

"Great. I'm looking forward to it." I say, smiling.

"Oh, let me get you some breakfast." Kili says suddenly. He begins to quickly walk away before I stop him.

"Oh no, you don't have to. I'll get it myself. I have to wake up Jai anyways."

Kili looks slightly hesitant before he smiles his charming smile. "Alright. I'll go get the pony ready." I nod as he walks away. _Phew. That was … actually not that bad. Let's hope I don't knock him off the pony as well._


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note**

** My worst nightmare is coming true. My inspiration is … dying. Right now, it is laying in its death bed with its heart beat slowly fading away. I don't know, is this story going too slowly? I need your opinions. I need ideas, my faithful followers. Please review and tell me what I could do. Please … Oh, and I'm on my Summer Vacation now so I can write more!**

**Oh and sorry about any OOC-ness in this chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

_I'm so nervous right now. What if I knock him off his pony? Thorin will kill me. Ugh. Whatever. All you have to do is not do anything impulsively or rash or stupid or – okay. I get the picture. _This was how much this was scaring me. I am having conversations with myself in my head. _Let's get this show on the road. _I see Kili confidently striding towards me as I slightly draw into myself trying to make my small self, smaller. But Kili's excited grin draws an identical one out of me onto my face.

"Miss Agni," he greets.

"Pri – Mr. Kili," I stumble, beginning to say prince but then remembering that nobody has actually told me that yet. _Well, I could just say we recognized their names because of Thorin and that we liked reading history books. Psht, yeah sure. That would toootally work. Who knows?_

"Let us get going." He said to me still smiling.

"Alright." I say looking away, shyly. We start walking towards the ponies until Thorin steps in front of us. Immediately I feel Kili stiffen up beside me. I straighten up as Thorin's eyes sweep over us. He's staring into my eyes, his brows furrowed as if in great concentration.

"Lady Agni, I'd like to speak with you if you please." Thorin's deep voice rumbles out. As quickly as I can, I look around for Jai. I find that he's watching Thorin with suspicion. I catch his eye and his eyes hold worry. I just nod to him and he nods back. This all happened within a split second. I look back at Thorin and nod to him as well. Then Thorin glances at Kili who takes this as his cue to leave. Although he doesn't look too happy about it as he walks to Fili with a scowl on his face.

"Lady Agni, I'd like to apologize profusely for my actions before." He says. Surprised I look at him straight in the eye. "I was just scared and angry about what could have happened to Fili, he is my nephew and I love him dearly."

I nod before I say, "And I'd like to apologize as well. I'm sorry that I almost hurt your nephew and I assure you the same won't happen again."

Suddenly Thorin's mood swings and he's frowning slightly. "Then why are you going to be riding with my _other _nephew today?" he asks accusatorily.

I frown straight back. "Because he asked me to."

Thorin looks stressed as he runs his hand down his face. "Alright, I'm being as nice as I can when I say this. You hurt my nephews, I will kick you out of this company, you and your brother."

I nod solemnly until my face lights up into a giant grin. "You mean we're part of your company?" I ask excitedly.

"Yes, though not officially." He says.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, the contract and everything. It's fine, I don't mind." Being so excited made me lose control of what I was saying as I remembered that I was never told about the contract. _Oh no…_

I can see a mask dropping over Thorin's features blocking out any emotion. "How do you know about the contract?" he asks, glaring at me.

I put my hands up in the 'don't shoot' gesture. "Okay, okay. Just let me explain. Alright?" I say soothingly. He takes a deep breath as he visibly relaxes. He gestures for me to go on. I start telling mine and Jai's story.

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

I watch as a variety of emotions flit across Agni's features as she speaks with Thorin; surprise, solemnity, excitement, fear, then amusement as she explains something animatedly with her hands waving around. "Fili? What do you think she's telling Uncle?" I say glancing at Fili.

"I don't know. Maybe something to let her ride with you, eh?" Fili says, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up Fili." I say shoving him away from me. He's laughing profusely as he straightens up.

"Whatever you say, little brother. Whatever you say."

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"So, yeah. That's our story." I finish. Thorin is scowling.

"Have you told Gandalf of your … predicament?" he asks slowly.

"Yeah. He said that he needed to think about it."

"For now, you and your brother will accompany us. I need to think about his a bit more. We will speak next time we stop which will be when the sun sets." I nod in agreement and then bow my head slightly and then practically run to Jai, but being careful about my feet we had just gotten make-shift shoes for. The shoes were made out of spare leather and strong twine.

_**"Oh my god, you'll never guess what happened." **_I say to Jai.

_**"What?"**_

_** "He said that we are part of his company, unofficially of course. First of all, he apologized for before then I said sorry then blah, blah, blah stuff happened. Then I had to tell him about where we're from because I accidently slipped up and said something about the contract I'm not supposed to know anything about. Sorry bro." **_I speed speak.

"Wow, okay then. I think we should move now though." He says gesturing with his head to the ponies.

"Yeah, you're right." I turn and walk towards Kili who is frowning but then when he sees me, gives me a small smile.

"So, I guess you can't ride with me then, can you?" he says dejected, looking down at his feet.

"Actually I can." I smile.

He looks up with a surprised face. "Really?!" he exclaims.

"Really." I say.

"Great. Let's get you seated." He says happily.

"Alright." We stroll towards his pony. Suddenly I let out a squeal as I'm lifted off the ground and plopped straight into the saddle by strong hands on my waist. I look down to see Kili laughing and I laugh along as well. "Thanks." I say when I finish laughing.

"Not a problem." He says. Then he pulls himself up behind me. I scoot forward a little trying to make it less awkward but as Kili leans forward to grab the reins, in the process pulls me back to his chest with his right arm wrapped around my waist like Fili did the day before. I know it was supposed to feel reassuring like Fili but it just made me blush a lot because of how close we were to each other. _Now I'm kinda glad that I'm sharing instead of Jai. Haha! That would have been a sight to see._

All the ponies begin walking forward; our pony is close to the back but there were still a few others behind us. Jai's pony as well as Fili's pony were right behind us. _Older brothers; eternally watchful. _"So," both of us say at the same time. I look up as he looks down and as soon as our eyes meet, we crack up. The deep vibrations from his diaphragm flowed into my back and out of my chest. This broke the awkward ice that had seized us.

"Well, the weather's looking good today." I say as casually as I can.

"I suppose it is, but it might rain later today." He says matter-of-factly.

"How do you know?" I was certainly perplexed because it looked like perfect weather to me with the sun shining and the birds chirping.

"I don't. It's just something that Balin would probably say … and it sounds clever." He says, abashedly.

I chuckle. "Ha, yeah. I would probably say the same thing." I look around at the lush green trees. "Now what should we talk about?" I ask.

"I … don't know. Uhm, what were you talking about with my Uncle?" he ask quietly in my ear so no one would over hear.

"Nothing important. He just apologized for earlier and I apologized for knocking Fili of his pony."

He chuckles. "Don't worry. Trust me, Fili has fallen off his pony plenty of times before. There was one summer when Fili had just gotten a pony for his birthday. Normally he would have waited for our Uncle but he was so excited he didn't. He tried to climb on without knowing how and pulled on the poor pony's mane." I waited as he paused. _I never realized that Fili was such a trouble maker._ "The pony was young as well and panicked. It bucked and Fili flew off into the air straight on to me. And let me tell you, I was well away from him. I tried to help him in the beginning but he was too stubborn. By the time Uncle came back, Fili and I were trying to catch our breaths from laughing so hard but Fili and I had bruises all over. We were in so much trouble for that." He ends with a contented sigh as I giggle.

"That's a cute story." I say, smiling. "You know, Jai and I got in trouble doing something similar once. What happened was ….

* * *

Third Person P.O.V.

Fili and Jai were riding side by side watching their younger siblings laughing and telling stories to each other. Fili was having fun seeing Kili interact so well with another person but Jai was wary of Kili. He was nervous about having some guy so close to his little sister. Fili turned to Jai and said well naturedly, "Isn't it nice seeing them getting along so well?"

"Yeah," Jai says through gritted teeth. "They're getting along _real_ well."

"What's wrong?" Fili asks seeing the turmoil on Jai's face.

"I know Kili is an awesome person but it makes me uncomfortable seeing him so close to my baby sister." Jai blurts out. "You see, being her older brother makes her my responsibility to take care of and watch over her. And especially since she's a _girl _I need to take care of her even more." Fili's nodding along, completely understanding where Jai was coming from. "If that makes any sense." Jai finishes.

"It make complete sense to me. Even though I may not have a younger sister, I still have to take care of Kili. He is reckless but I promise you, if there ever is a time that this may be necessary, everyone here will protect her. Especially Kili. She is a female and females are precious to us for there are few." Fili reassures Jai.

Jai looks slightly abashed as he says, "Thank you." They nod to each other and their new found friendship as they continue to watch over their loved ones. But this time, both are smiling.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"And then we were grounded for a month." Kili is chuckling. His strong arm tightens around me, imperceptibly but just enough that I notice.

"That is a very amusing story." He grins.

"Yeah …" I trail off as I feel my stomach literally rumbles out loud. I freeze hoping that Kili didn't hear it but he felt it himself. _His arm is wrapped around my waist. Of course he would feel it. Well, at least I'll get some food. _

"Are you hungry?" he asks simply.

"Yeah, are you?" I say quickly getting the attention off of me.

"Starving."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note ****PLEASE READ**

** Hey guys and gals. I'm really disappointed that no one reviewed. Actually I was about to put this story on hiatus. I know how much people really hate hiatuses but I was really losing hope for this story. But when I saw the new followers that I had gained and I decided to continue this story. Now I have 15 FOLLOWERS! I'm sooo happy. I'd like to thank every single one of you that followed and favorited. But please, please, please review. I'd really like your opinions. Thanks and enjoy Chapter 11! But I'd like to apologize for the lateness and shortness of this chapter. I had a lot random packing to do because we're going to visit family in Colorado. Woo hoo! Fun! *note the sarcasm***

**HAPPY SOON TO BE FOURTH OF JULY TO ALL US AMERICANS! If you're not American then have a nice weekend. :) **

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"Oi! Bombur! Toss us back some lunch!" Kili yells towards the front of the group where Bombur and his sturdy pony were ambling along.

"Right up my lad!" he yells back. Suddenly there's packages wrapped in cloth being flung back at us. I squeak in alarm and turn slightly burrowing my face into Kili's side as he catches the food. He chuckles at my antics. Blushing I turn back around facing forward.

"Hey, now we have food. Come on. Eat up." He says handing me one of the packages.

I open it to find a piece of bread, some cheese, and an apple. _Bombur, the magician. He didn't give me any meat. _I pick up the bread and find that it is surprisingly soft. I rip off a piece and place it in my mouth. Chewing slowly I savor the sourdough bread. _Mmh. _I combine the bread with the cheese and have an explosion of different flavors. The cheese was tangy but not too sour. It was perfect. _I feel like that cooking rat from __Ratatouille__. What was his name? Ugh, what was it? It's on the tip of my tongue. Remy! Yes! _Pulling myself out of cartoon thoughts I enjoy the rest of my meal and finish it off with a perfectly perfect apple, its juices quenching my thirst that had arisen. I turn to see Jai and Fili enjoying their food as well and it seems, each other's company. _Glad they're friends now._

Now that my hunger was satisfied, I felt my eyelids drooping. _Why am I so sleepy all the time? _I think yawning. Nevertheless I begin to curl into myself, trying to get comfortable will riding a pony. "Agni?" Kili questions, momentarily breaking me out of my sleepy haze.

"Yes?" I mumble half-heartedly.

"What are you doing?" he asks curiously.

"Trying to sleep on a pony." I murmur.

"Oh," he says softly. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall. You can lean back on me you know." he suggests, leaning in close to my ear.

"Really? If you don't mind." I stammer out, surprised and suddenly shy.

"I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't mind it." He grins. "Actually I'd kind of like it." He says really quietly. So quietly that I don't think I was supposed to hear it.

"Thanks." I yawn again. I slowly lean myself back but suddenly I'm gently pulled back all the way by Kili. He chuckles a little. I just blush more and turn my head and rest it lightly on his chest. I close my eyes and listen to his strong and steady heartbeat as it lulls me to sleep.

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

I smile, content with the food in my belly and Agni curled up in my arms. I glance down and see her youthful face relaxed of its hidden anxiety. Even though she genuinely enjoyed our company, I could see the apprehension disguised behind her smiles. _She is in a completely new environment, with people who are practically strangers. Of course she is nervous. _My attention is diverted when I hear a voice whispering my name.

"Kili!" the voice whisper yells.

I slowly turn around trying not to jostle Agni. I see it's Jai who's calling me. "Yes?"

"Is she asleep?" he asks, with a tone of concern I sometimes hear in Fili's when he's talking about me and doesn't realize that I can hear him.

I smile reassuringly, "Yes, she is." He sends a small smile back and just nods. I turn back around and look around at the scenery. Relaxing, I enjoy the fresh air of spring and the sweet scent of the flowers in the air. Agni squirms against me. I look down and see a frown marring her face. She lets out a quiet whimper. _Is she having a nightmare? Oh my … I think she is. _I shake her gently. "Agni? Agni? Wake up." I say leaning closer to her ear. Her frown softened but was still there. "Agni, it's all right. Wake up." I repeat, shaking her gently again. Her open hers eyes with a gasp, her back going ramrod straight. She looks around blindly searching for something. I rub her back comfortingly. "Hey, Agni. It's me. Everything's okay." She turn around to look at me as if she forgot that I was here. Instantly her body relaxes and she gives me a tired smile.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, it was just a bad dream." She says.

"No, no. It's fine. Are you well?" I ask, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." she waves me off. _Well, then._

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

Kili sighs behind me as I dismiss my silly dream. _More of a nightmare really. Oh, shut up._ I look around at the scenery as I try to forget the terrifying vision.

* * *

*Flashback*

I was running. Panting I looked over my shoulder to see a warg chasing me. It roared and I sprinted faster. Every time I looked back it was closer and I ran faster and faster. But eventually it caught up to me. It tackled me and roared in my face, it's drool flying all over my face. Its forepaws were pinning my shoulders as its claws dug into me. Right as it was going to chomp down on my face, the attack stopped as if someone paused it. But I could hear someone's voice. It was distant but it sounded familiar. He was saying my name. "Wake up." He said. _Wake up? I'm asleep. _Suddenly the attack restarted … and then I woke up.

* * *

*Flashback ends*

A sigh whooshes out of my lungs at the speed of a bullet as I let go of the dream and try to expel it from my mind. I lean forward and rest my forehead on the pommel of the saddle.

"Yo, pony. Gimme some of your infinite wisdom, eh?" I ask the pony with a gangsta accent. _At least I think it's a gangsta accent. Maybe a very poor imitation of Australian. Whatever._ Sighing again I softly knock my head on the pommel repeatedly. _Why –__**thump**__\- does –__**thump- **__stuff __**–thump- **__like __**–thump- **__this __**–thump- **__always__** –thump-**__ happen __**–thump-**__ to __**–thump-**__ me? __**–thump. **_I momentarily stop hitting my head. _How are we going to get home? Do I even want to go home? I guess __**that's**_ _the problem of the day._


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note**

** Hey guys! I'm soo happy right now. I have 18 followers on this story. It's a really big deal for me because this is my first fanfiction and I'm ecstatic that this many people like it.**

**ACreativeHobbit****\- Thank you for being here since the beginning. I totally agree with you about any of the dwarves saying 'okay'. It kind of just slipped because I just wanted to get a chapter up before I left and I was typing really fast. And thanks for the advice on how to go about with Agni and Kili's romance right now. (Or lack thereof.) I didn't really know how to go slow but not too slow or fast but not too fast, and etc. Don't feel bad about not reviewing. Everyone's got stuff to do plus, I enjoy any feedback. I actually love longer reviews! :D**

**Also I will be going on a trip for about a month. I will certainly be writing chapters but I may not be able to update. So yeah, just apologizing in advance. It's gonna suck not being able to do anything fanfiction related for an **_**entire **_**month. *sigh***

**ACreativeHobbit****, ****Cheriesherry,****Copper360,****ErinSpoons,****ForeverSomewhereElse,****Lotelemna Nullame,****Lynn Kyzar, Nori'sLilThief,****Purple-Luv's-Green-Hates,****SimplySupreme,****ashthetyto,****blushingpixie,****luvgirl101, nbowles,****princessyuki08,****purpleclaw37,****squishifishi,****xx. ,**** thank you all for following! Enjoy Chapter 12!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

I look up from the pommel of the saddle when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn to the right to see Ori looking concerned. _Oh crap. Now what do I do? _"Uhm, oh, hey there Ori. What's up?" he looks confused at my question.

"The sky?" he answers sounding like a question. Hearing his response I chuckle. Ori's confused expression made me laugh harder.

"Sorry Ori." I apologize. "It's just that 'what's up' where I come from means 'what's going on' or 'what do you need' or something like that. It usually isn't used in its literal sense."

Realization dawns on Ori's face as he nods slowly. "I was merely concerned of your health. Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a little frustrated." I say tiredly.

Ori nods in understanding. "I empathize. You're in a new place with new people and your safety lies in their hands." He basically summarized my entire time here in Middle Earth.

I just nod and say, "Yeah," I turn slightly and send a worried look to Jai. He just shrugs as if saying, _you're on your own. Gee thanks. Some brother. _I turn back to facing forward with my head tilted towards Ori. _Awwkward silence. _I elbow Kili behind me enough to get his attention.

"Oomph! What was that...? Oh" Kili blurts out. "Oh, hello there Ori. What are you doing?" Kili says exuberantly. I kind of want to face-palm.

Ori looking annoyed says, "I was having a conversation with Lady Agni."

"Oh, none of that 'lady' business. Just call me Agni." I interrupt.

"Alright, L- Agni. Earlier you were talking about where you are from. Can you elaborate on the history of your ancestors?" he asks.

"Oh, history stuff is mostly my brother's strong points. He can remember more than me. You should ask him. One sec." Turning around I gesture to Jai to come up here. He complies. As Jai comes up, I turn to Ori and say, "Well, it was nice talking to you, but we have to make space for Jai's pony. See ya later." I say.

Ori looks disappointed. Now I feel guilty. _But, Nori did warn me. I should listen. I guess, Jai isn't too bad, right? And with Fili around, he'll be fine. Plus I won't be too far behind. _Nodding Ori says, "It was nice speaking with you as well, Agni." We stop moving to allow Jai to take our space and we move back next to Fili.

Turning to Kili, I say grinning, "Skillful pony driving."

He just smiles. "Why did you not want to talk to Ori?" Kili asks.

"Well, it's not that I don't want to talk to him. I do, I could talk to him for hours but, you see his brothers don't really like us, I think specifically me. But it's –"Kili interrupts before I can finish.

"They don't like you?!" he exclaims.

"As I was saying, I think it's just Dori who doesn't like me. I guess it makes sense. Jai and I are just strangers in this close knit family of yours."

"No, no. You and yer brother are part of our family now." Kili assures.

"Kili, we've only been here for a few days." I say in a slightly monotonous voice.

"So? You know what, you and Jai are going to sit next to us at the campfire tonight." Kili declares.

"Uhh, are you sure that's a good idea, after everything I just told you? I _really _don't think it's a good idea." I mutter the last part to myself. Just as I feel Kili taking a deep breath behind me, I feel a drop on my eyelid. Slowly I turn my head up to see gray clouds gathering above us. "Kili, I think it's gonna rain." I'm so excited. It has barely rained in California this year so I can't wait for it to rain. I love the smell of freshly fallen rain; the earthy tang just appeals to my senses.

Kili looks up as well. "Yes, I do believe it is." He sounds annoyed.

I turn awkwardly to look at him. "Do you not like rain?" I ask.

"No, I like rain, I just do not appreciate getting cold and wet." Thinking about his explanation I realize he's right. _I don't think I'm gonna like it either. Oh boy. _All of a sudden it begins pouring big, fat droplets. I look ahead and see Jai getting soaked. _Poor guy. At least I have the advantage of someone else to block the rain slightly. _Just as I think that, Kili pulls me even closer to him, if that's possible. I blush at our proximity, but I don't think anyone would notice. Being taller than me, Kili's head and shoulders act sort of like an overhang above me keeping a lot of the rain off of me. He pulls up his hood and pulls his cloak around us. _Ooooh. That feels nice. _Our combined body heat filled up the little cavern his cloak made warming us up.

I look at Jai and see Fili passing up a spare cloak to him. He wraps it around him and pulls up the hood, nodding his thanks to Fili. "Fili. Thanks for giving him that." I thank Fili myself. I don't want to see Jai getting sick, especially here. We don't know if their common cold is different than our common cold.

"Not a problem. Like Kili said, he's family." Fili replies, sending his signature charming grin my way. I just nod and send him a smile as well. I gratefully lean back into the warmth that Kili radiated. _How come Kili actually wanted to be my friend? I mean, I have guy friends but they're not exactly attractive, to me at least. I guess Kili's just not judgmental. _Sighing and shutting down my thoughts, I just look out at the downpour of rain.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note**

**Hello guys! Right now I'm in India but maybe by the time I upload this I'll probably be back in America. So I'm happy about your guys' reviews. One of you said that this is going too slow and I totally agree. It will speed up drastically in this chapter. Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf. Can't you do something about this deluge?" Dori asks. Immediately my drowsiness vanishes.

"It is raining, master dwarf. And it will continue to rain until the rain is done!" exclaims Gandalf. "If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard."

"Are there any?" asks Bilbo.

"What?" Gandalf asks, confused.

"Other wizards?" Bilbo replies.

"There are five of us," Gandalf begins. "The greatest of our order is Saruman, The White. Then there are the two blue wizards. Do you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"And who is the fifth?" Bilbo inquires.

"Well, that would be Radagast, The Brown."

"Is he a great wizard or is he… more like you?" Bilbo asks, unknowingly insulting Gandalf. I giggle quietly to myself.

"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forestlands to the East, and a good thing too, for always evil will look to find a foothold in this world." Gandalf ends ominously.

I listen to their interaction, enraptured. _We're getting close to some real action now. _"I didn't know there were other wizards," Kili says to Fili who's riding next to us.

"That's because you never paid attention during our history lessons with Balin," Fili points out.

"Oh, yes. History …" Kili trails off, rubbing the back of his neck, grinning abashedly. Chuckling I turn away from their conversation to look around. Droplets covered every leaf, every petal; the sun's rays glanced off each and every one, making it seem as if we were surrounded by diamonds.

"We'll camp here for the night. Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them." Thorin's deep voice calls out. _Finally. Time to get off this goddamned pony! Not that this ride wasn't enjoyable and entertaining._ Our pony, instead of 'clip-clopping' was squelching through the mud. Up ahead I could see a dilapidated old farmhouse and a sufficient clearing for all of us. Fili was already off his pony and was standing on the left side of our pony, waiting. _What is he waiting for? He could just take his po- WHOA!_

Kili put his hands under my arms and lifted me up like a baby. Then he literally handed me off to Fili who was already reaching for me. Fili then placed me down on less muddy ground. "Um, thanks," I say. I don't really appreciate being man-handled or in this case dwarf-handled. _I can't possibly be that light._

"Not a problem, Agni," says Fili with a small grin on his face. I look down at my bandaged feet and their makeshift shoes. Flexing my feet, I begin walking slowly. _Wow! Whatever ointment Oin put on my feet is amazing! _I continue walking with only a twinge of pain in my heels. Making my way to Bombur, Gandalf nearly knocks me over in his hurry to get out of here.

"Myself, Mr. Baggins," Gandalf exclaims. "I've had enough of dwarves for one day." He mutters as he strides to his horse and gallops off to god knows where.

"Come on Bombur, we're hungry." Thorin booms.

I continue to where Bombur is getting ready to cook.

"Hey Bombur," I greet. "Do you need any help with anything?"

"Hello there Lady Agni. Well, I suppose you'd like something to do," Bombur says thoughtfully. "You could chop the carrots," he suggests. _Perfect. One thing I know how to do. _

"Sure," as soon as I said that, a sack of carrots was shoved into my arms along with a sheathed knife and a slab of wood. Staggering slightly, I walk over and plop down on a log. Looking at the sheer amount of carrots I decide to cut about three at a time. I pull out three carrots and place them on the block of wood on my lap. Then I unsheathe the knife and stop for a moment, looking at its wicked gleam. _One wrong move and I'll be chopping my fingers instead of carrots. _Shaking off any morbid thoughts, I begin chopping.

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

As we're leading the ponies away, I see Bombur practically shoving what looks like a sack of carrots into Agni's arms. I watch as she sits down, daunted by the task of cutting so many carrots. A small smile slips onto her face as she begins cutting. I wonder what she must be thinking of.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

A smile forms on my face as I start chopping. Remembering a sweet memory from a few years ago, I laugh quietly to myself. I was chopping carrots just like I am now except then it was in a kitchen with electricity not in the wilderness with a campfire. I was helping my mom who was making a curry that required potatoes, cauliflowers, tomatoes, and a whole bunch of other vegetables obviously including carrots. It was the first time I actually wanted to help my mom cook. The whole time we were laughing and joking around at my dad's and brother's expense. A short but sweet memory.

I look over at Bombur and see that he's already through an entire lot of tomatoes, urging me to chop faster.

* * *

**30 Minutes Later (Read it like the guy from Spongebob does)**

"Whew! Finally! I have finished," I exclaim prompting several dwarves to look at me oddly. Carrying everything back to Bombur, I present my hardwork to him.

"Excellent, Lady Agni," Bombur praises. I practically glow from the appreciation in his voice.

"Is that all?" I ask, not wanting any more work but feeling the need to ask.

"That is all. Now run along. Go help the lads with the ponies," Bombur suggests. I smile gratefully and look for Jai. Seeing him, I walk over. He's talking to Ori who is hurriedly scribbling in his giant journal.

"Hey there Ori. How are you?" I ask kindly.

"Hello La- Agni. I am fine. Actually more than fine. You were right. Your brother does know a lot of information." Ori says excitedly. I smile at him, happy that he and Jai have gotten on so well. I look at Jai, lifting an eyebrow in question. He just smirked at me, knowing that I want to be friends with Ori as well, but can't because Dori has a particular aversion to me.

"That's great, Ori. Can I take Jai with me or do you have more information to get down?" I ask, not necessarily needing Jai to be with me but just asking.

Ori smiles sheepishly then asks, "If you don't mind?"

"I don't mind, not at all. Have fun!" I say, then begin walking towards the woods in which Fili and Kili were watching the ponies. _Time to see what they were doing when they lost the ponies. Hehe._

* * *

Still Agni P.O.V.

I reach the beginning of the woods, a little scared because a girl walking into the woods is the start of any stereotypical horror movie. But since the sun was still up it wasn't too scary and the path was clear. I walked through quickly though, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. Placing my feet softly on the path not to jostle them too much, I make my way silently to where Fili and Kili are hopefully located.

But when I reach there, I just stop and stare. There leaning against a tree, facing away from the ponies where Fili and Kili. Snoring. Kili's head was leaning on Fili's shoulder and Fili's head was leaned back against the trunk of the tree. Both of them were snoring loud enough to scare away the resident animals into hiding. _Wow… this is not what I was expecting. To tell you the truth I didn't know what I was expecting. Whatever, I'll just let them sleep, they must be really tired._

I walk over to the pony Kili and I have been riding this whole time and stroke its muzzle. Over the past few days I have grown fond of this pony that I still don't know the name of. All of a sudden I feel a rumbling in the ground. _What the… _My thoughts are cut off when I hear an immense cracking noise. Turning I see a large tree toppling over as something large boisterously makes its way towards me. _Oh my god, oh my god! Now what do I do? Hide. Hide! _My mind is racing with millions of thoughts at once.

"Ooh. What's this? Fresh nags? Yum, delicious! Can't wait to boil these up." A loud voice states. Quickly and as quietly as possible I leap behind Kili's pony and crouch with my hands above my head. But to my misfortune he decided the pick the very pony I decided to hide behind. Bungle, now realizing the pony's name, is picked up, neighing and trying to get away from the mountain troll. Going completely still, I hope not to be seen, but once again, I am unlucky. I try to scream but the breath is squeezed out of me by his grip. Suddenly I'm faced by a giant, ugly, wart-filled face. He lets out a disgusting breath straight into my face smelling of sewage and a landfill. I watch as he eyes me hungrily, making me squirm trying to get away. I breathing shallowly as he stared at me.

"An' wha' are you? I 'ope you taste better than tha' leathery ol' farmer." He spouts out of his horrid mouth and then promptly placing me in one of the massive pockets in his apron. _The stench in here is atrocious! _Black spots start covering my vision as I lose consciousness.

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

Gasping, I wake up. _What was that? _I quickly stand up, kicking Fili in the leg to wake him. He stops mid-snort and his head pops up. "What is your problem Kili?" he asks, irritated.

"Something's off, I don't know what. I just woke up," I explain. Fili immediately stands up. After knowing me his whole life, he knows to trust my instincts. He just nods and we begin looking around to see what might have woken me up. I look towards the ponies and walk over. For some reason I just decide to count them. _One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fif- wait. Where's fifteen? And sixteen? Oh no._ "Um, Fili?"

"What?" he says, walking over and standing next to me.

"We're missing two ponies."

"That's impossible," he says, disbelief coloring his voice as he begins to count the ponies himself. After he finishes he just stands there staring at the ponies. A few minutes later, we hear two sets of footsteps and low murmuring. Knowing that they're from our camp, I don't worry. I continue to count the ponies over and over again.

"Yeah, I wonder what they're doing." Jai's voice floats out to us. As Bilbo and Jai walk out into the clearing, they take in our appearance and instantly know something's wrong.

"What's the matter?" Bilbo asks.

"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies," I say.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem,"

"We had sixteen," I begin.

"Now we have fourteen," Fili finishes.

"Daisy and Bungle are missing," I say, looking around at which ponies are missing.

"Well, uh that is not good. And that is not good at all," he says, seeing the toppled over trees. "Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"

"Uh … no. Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might take a look into it," Fili suggests smartly. While all this is going on, I see from the corner of my eye, Jai looking around as if he was searching for something. _Whatever it may be can't possibly be as important as this. _

Bilbo looks at the fallen trees and says, "Well, uh… it looks as if something big uprooted these trees."

"That was our thinking," I say.

"It's something very big and possibly quite dangerous," he says, sounding a little scared.

"Hey! There's a light." Fili exclaims. "Over here!" he whispers to me. We all move closer to the light.

"Stay down," Fili warns.

"What is it?" Bilbo asks, looking at the large hulking creatures sitting around a campfire.

"Trolls," I say.

We move closer, but suddenly another trolls stomps out of the forest closer to us. Quickly Fili pulls me behind a tree with him. "He's got Myrtle and Minty!" Bilbo whisper yells to us. "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something."

"Yes, you should. Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small. They'll never see you." I say, as the idea pops into my head  
"

"Me? Me? No. No. No." Bilbo stutters.

"It's perfectly safe!" I try to convince him.

"We'll be right behind you. If you run into trouble hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl." Fili reassures, taking the bowls of stew.

As Bilbo goes off, we turn and see Jai, holding one bowl of stew looking pale in the face. "Where's Agni?" he asks, sounding extremely worried. "Bombur said that she was with you two."

"What? We never saw her," Fili says as my mind spins. _Oh no…_

"What if the trolls took her?" Jai asks, voicing my thoughts.

Fili and I look at each other thinking the same thing. "We need to tell Thorin."

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

I wake up, with my head throbbing. I reach up to rub it, but find that I can't. Opening my eyes, I see that I'm in an old potato sack. It was tight up at my neck making it impossible to squeeze my arm out. I struggle to move a little but when I do, I am shocked but more especially angry. _My shirt's gone! I loved that shirt! Wait, why aren't my jeans gone? Maybe they were too complicated for those stupid oafs. Haha! _I pull myself up to a sitting position and find that I'm in the fenced off area with the ponies. But as soon as I sit up, I feel a sharp pain in my abdomen.

Grunting slightly, I move slower. I can hear the trolls conversing in the background.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today. And blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow." One of the trolls complains.

"Quit your gripping. These ain't sheep! These is West nags!" says the same troll that caught me.

"Oh! I don't like horse. I never have. Not enough fat on them." Says another troll.

"Well, it's better than a leathery ol' farmer. All skin and bone he was. I'm still pickin' bits of him out o' me teeth." Says the first one again.

Ignoring them I squirm slowly trying to get my hand to my pocket. Feeling around I finally get it. Pushing my hand into my pocket, I pull out the pocket knife I never took out since I found it. _Yes! Good thing they couldn't get these jeans off. My precious. Hehe. _I slowly pull out the knife part, careful not to cut myself. I poke it into the sack expecting it to go straight through but getting the opposite effect. _Why isn't it going through? _Poking the tip I find the answer. _It's dull. My only hope is freaking dull. Ughh. _I begin vigorously stabbing at the sack trying to weaken it with my dull knife enough to get through. To my surprise, it works. The knife rips through. _Victory! _

Now I began sawing up, towards my head. _This is going to take forever. _All of a sudden I hear a the trolls' voices raised.

"AAH! Blimey! Burt! Burt, look what's come out of me hooter! It's got arms and legs and everything!" the complaining troll exclaimed. _Oh no! He's got Bilbo! _I speed up my process of 'cutting' through the sack.

"Another one? What are they?" Burt says as he picks me up, squeezing me again hurting my abdomen. They compare us as we both wriggle around under their gazes.

"I don't know, but I don't like the way they wriggle around!" the troll drops Bilbo and in the same time, knocks me out of Burt's hand.

"Oof!" Bilbo and I say as we both hit the ground. I curl into a ball as my abdomen throbs. All of a sudden, I feel something wet. A feel around for the source. Slowly I feel something in my left thigh. _My pocket knife. I guess it's not that dull after all._


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note**

** Hey guys! I'm not back in America yet. Oh my god. I read through my story and the number of typos in the first few chapters is astonishing. I'm so surprised at how you guys actually like my story after how unclean my first chapter was. Hopefully I've gotten a lot better since then. I got SO many new followers and reviews just in the last chapter! After the first few chapters, I realized how hard it is to have more than one OC, especially one being a brother. It's hard knowing when Jai or Kili should go to the aid of Agni. Also, I don't want Agni to be a Mary Sue. If she is, then tell me so I can fix it. Her name literally means 'Fire' so yeah. There's some fun Fili and Agni interaction in this chap. Some things in this chapter will be a little different than the movie to accommodate my OC's. Anyways, see ya laters my friends! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Enjoy chapter 14!**

**P.S. This is probably my longest chapter so far. OMG. :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

I saw a documentary once. If I pulled out the knife, I would lose blood faster since right now it is blocking most of the blood flow. And also since it's a pretty small knife, it didn't go too deep so I probably won't bleed as much. Ignoring the pain as much as I can, I wiggle around so that I can sit up. Looking around I see Bilbo being chased by the three gigantic mountain trolls.

"What are you then? An oversized squirrel?" Burt, the cook says.

"I'm a burglar…uh, hobbit!" Bilbo stutters.

"A burglar-hobbit?" says, the youngish sounding one.

"Can we cook 'im?" the scariest one says.

"We can try!" the cook exclaims. Then Bilbo valiantly tries to get away but alas, he's cornered. "He wouldn't make more than a mouthful. Not when he's skinned and boned!" he pokes Bilbo with his ladle.

Then the scary one tries to grab Bilbo. "Perhaps there's more burglar-hobbits 'round these parts, might be enough for a pie!" Bilbo ducks away. "Grab 'im!" he yells.

"He's too quick!" yells the younger one.

"Oah, come here! You little…" one of them yells. Now it's too confusing with all them running around to know who was yelling everything. But while all this was going on, I was caterpillar crawling away from them as fast as I could. Unfortunately, at this very moment the scary troll grabs Bilbo by his legs.

"Gotcha! Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?" says the scary one.

"No," says Bilbo protecting the company. But because of this, Burt remembers me.

"Where is she?" he wonders. He look around at where he dropped me before. I crawl faster but it doesn't work. "There ye are," he says happily, grabbing me again. This time I scream as loud as I can. Must have been pretty loud because all the trolls _and _Bilbo covered their ears and Burt almost dropped me. "Shut yer yapper!" he yells at me, squeezing me in anger. His pinky smashed into my pocket knife that was sticking out of my leg causing the blade to break in my leg. My scream is muffled by his enormous, disgusting, index finger.

"He's lying!" yells the scary troll, bringing the attention back to poor Bilbo.

"I'm not!" Bilbo yells, indignantly and desperately.

"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal!" roars the younger troll.

* * *

Third P.O.V.

As Agni and Bilbo are trying to remain hidden and forgotten, Fili, Kili, and Jai are racing back to camp to alert the others of the situation.

"Uncle, Uncle!" Fili and Kili yell as they run into camp. All the dwarves were merrily enjoying their meal and are startled by this sudden interruption. Thorin immediately stands up, not caring about the bowl that just fell out of his lap.

"What is it? What happened?" Thorin asks, alarmed. The rest of the company stands up as well, already armed.

"Mountain trolls! They've stolen about four ponies," Fili explains quickly

But just as quickly, both Jai and Kili yell, "They've got Agni too!" At this everyone murmurs. Females are priceless to dwarves, and now since Agni was kidnapped they had a new sense of urgency to the circumstances.

"Where?" is all Thorin asks.

* * *

Still Third Person P.O.V.

The entire company was racing through the woodland when an ear piercing scream shatters the silence. Everyone's face tenses even more, especially Jai who looks physically pained. "Hurry! We need to help them!" Jai yells.

At this Bofur speaks up. "Them?" Everyone looks at Jai.

"Yeah, Bilbo's there too." Thorin glares at Fili and Kili who are looking slightly sheepish. "Come on!" Jai yells again. The entire company moves forward quietly making sure the trolls wouldn't know they were there.

"Alright, I'll distract them while the rest of you …" Kili whispers his plan to the company. Meanwhile, a few yards away…

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

_What's taking them so long?! _I'm screaming in my head. But right as I think that Kili pops out of the woods yelling, "Drop him!" _Yes. Yes. Yes! Wait… wait! What about me?! _Now the scary troll is throwing Bilbo at Kili, but what about me? Burt shoves me in his apron pocket just as the rest of the company begins attacking. I'm being smacked against Burt's belly as he swings around to apprehend his opponents who're behind him. All I can hear is swords clanging, dwarven battle cries, and the guttural roars of the trolls. But suddenly, it's all silent.

"Bilbo!" Kili exclaims.

"No!" Thorin yells.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off!" yells one of the trolls. I hear the clank of swords and other weapons hitting the ground.

"Get 'em in sacks. Strip down to yer underwear. Can't cook ye with all that leather on." Says Burt. I can hear the rustling of clothes that makes me blush, even though no one can see me and I've been stabbed in the leg with possibly bruised ribs. Burt bends over as if to pick up something but when I hear indignant shouts I figure out he was picking up the dwarves. "Oh, can't forget 'bout you. I'll have you for dessert," Burt says as he roughly pulls me out of his apron pocket and tosses me on top of the other dwarves in sacks. I fall onto someone's elbow which dug into my ribs. I let out a scream but shut it up as soon as possible to not attract the trolls' attention again. I just curl into myself and ride out the pain.

"**Agni! Agni, are you okay?!" **a frantic voice calls out in my language. I look up and see Jai not too far from me, just a few dwarves in between us.

"**Don't worry. Just a scratch or two." **I say, smiling in what is hopefully a reassuring manner. He looks unconvinced but just nods. _Time to look around for the owner of that elbow. _I look down to see whose elbow it was and find the culprit. _Gloin. Whatever. Just stay calm and don't say anything you'll regret. _I roll to my left to get away from Gloin and his stupid pointy elbows. I end up in between Fili and Kili.

"Oh, hey there friends. Have a nice nap?" I ask, slightly, no actually more than slightly annoyed that they didn't wake up earlier. Trees being knocked over and practically ripped out of the ground are pretty loud noises. Almost immediately they began blurting out apologies.

"I'm so sorry,"

"We didn't know you were there,"

"It was all my fault," now that one caught my attention. It was coming from Kili.

I face him and say, "Do **not** blame yourself. It was not your fault. It was mine. I heard him coming. I could have hidden better but I didn't. Okay? It's not your fault." I didn't want him blaming himself for what happened. And after seeing my injuries he'll feel even guiltier and I don't want that. Kili just nods but still looking like a kicked puppy. _Aww, come on. Why? Don't make that face. _I say to him in my head. Fili nudges me in my side, trying to get my attention, but instead increasing the pain. I gasp and curl into myself again, my head leaning against Fili's chest.

"Agni?" Fili asks, worried. "What's wrong?" Kili calls my name out as well. _Why does it hurt so much? It must hurt more when you're giving birth right? Maybe if I fall asleep the pain will go away? Sheep are nice and fluffy. I think I'll take a nap. Yeah, that sounds nice. Ahh, sleep. Perrrrfect. _My thoughts fade away as I drift into unconsciousness.

* * *

Third Person P.O.V.

"Agni? Agni?!" Kili was sounding frantic.

"Shh!" Fili shushes him. "I think she's asleep."

"You think?!"

"Shh!" he shushes again. "She's fine. She's breathing." Kili sighs, exasperated.

"Don't bother cooking 'em! Let's just sit on 'em and squash 'em into jelly!" the young troll said.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," says the cook.

"Oh, that does sound quite nice," says the young one again.

"Never mind the seasoning, we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, let's get a move on! I don't fancy been turned to stone." says the meaner troll.

Then Bilbo pops up with an idea. "Wait! You are making a terrible mistake."

* * *

_(Well you guys know the rest. Fast forward a little bit. )_

Agni P.O.V.

_Flowers. Mmh. What a wonderful scent. I open my eyes and see a field of flowers as far as I can see. And all those colors. I sigh. Violet, fuchsia, aquamarine, yellow, and lots and lots of green. I kneel down to look closer at a rose which was right at my feet. It was a beautiful blood red. I reach out to touch it but feel a prick at the tip of my finger. I turn over my hand and see blood sprouting from a small hole in my finger. I watch as it trickles down my finger and drips onto the rose. The rose soaked in my blood and was relishing it. _

_Suddenly I felt an intense pain in my abdomen. I look down and see blood emerging out of my stomach. It was floating straight into the waiting petals of the rose. Seeing the rose drinking my blood, I scream. Then I was distracted by someone calling my name. It was a familiar voice. I just couldn't place it. But where was it coming from? I spin in a circle, forgetting the bloody rose. Suddenly my vision starts to blur. My hands fly up to my eyes. What's happening? As my vision fades I just focus on the sound of the familiar voice. I follow it blindly through the masses of flora. Soon all I can hear is the voice. It just becomes louder and louder. Soon a bright light fills my eyes and a face hovers over mine._

I blink. _Blinking. What a simple function. Just to lubricate and protect the eye._ I blink and see a face hovering above mine. Their blonde hair tickled my nose. _Wait, blonde? _My eyes come into focus and I see Fili looking down at me. "Agni. Finally you're awake. I have been trying to awaken you for a while now."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks Fili. I was having the weirdest dream. Could you move so I can sit up?" I ask.

"Of course. One moment." Fili grunts shuffling away from me still inside his sack. I sit up slowly being careful about my injuries. Looking around I see Dwalin and a few other dwarves who were over the fire, walking around cutting the rest of us out of the sacks. I hear a loud thump and a groan. Turning I see Fili face down in the dirt. Laughing I scoot towards and attempt to assist him. He flips over onto his back and I lean back slowly and push him up with my shoulder. Once he's sitting up he says, "You have my thanks."

"And you have mine. Let me tell you something, you are a very good pillow," I say, smiling cheekily.

"I have been told that before," he says smirking. I blush at what he's implying.

"Fili!" I exclaim, sounding offended but still smiling.

"I'm just joking." Fili says, in between laughs. "As soon as Dwalin cuts me out of this sack, I'll cut you out as well, alright Agni?"

"Sure," I say. I feel like there is something important I need to tell him but I can't remember. _Well, whatever._ As Dwalin takes his own dilly daddly doo time to get over here, I look around but instantly look away blushing. Most of the dwarfs were getting dressed and were in their long underwear. It isn't that embarrassing looking at people in long underwear but it was the exact person who my eyes locked onto that made me blush. _Kili._ I hear a choking sound and turn to see Fili cracking up, his head leaning down as he tried to breathe.

"Oh, shut up," I say to him, ducking my head at my embarrassment of him noticing. Then I see Dwalin approaching. "Oh, look. Dwalin's here to cut you out." I state slightly louder than normal so that Fili's attention would be drawn somewhere else. Sure enough, Fili turns to look at Dwalin's imposing figure towering over him.

"Mr. Dwalin! Thank you. Don't worry, I'll cut Miss Agni out," Fili says happily. But then he mumbles something else. "Just let me get dressed."

_Great. Time to look away. _I think, blushing. Fili just looks at me with a raised eyebrow while I pointedly ignore him as he rips off the leftovers of the sack and walks over to a stack of clothes separate than the others. I try to give him some privacy but seeing the amount of knifes he's hiding back into his clothes, my mouth slowly drops open. The stack of knifes were slowly getting smaller as Fili expertly conceals his _large _amount of sharp objects. Then the last knife that was left was an eensy teensy one. The blade was about two inches long. Fili didn't put it away though. He turned and walked towards me.

I waited, excited to get out of this bothersome sack. Though, it is an ingenious way of imprisoning someone. "Agni, I bet you can't wait to be out of that damn sack, eh?" Fili asks. I nod firmly. But there is something on my mind. Something important. I just can't catch it. _Probably doesn't matter anyways. _Fili crouches down and brings the knife towards my neck. Trusting Fili completely, I watch as his knife slices easily through the canvas, like it was butter. Then he cuts downwards all the way to the bottom. Feeling a cool breeze on my bruised torso, I smile.

"You have no idea how good that feels," I grin. Standing up gingerly, I watch as the sack falls down my body. _Ahh. _I lean on my right foot, because of the stab wound I received from my pocket knife. _That sounds pathetic. _I think as I wince. _It was smaller than Fili's knife he used to cut me out._ Shaking off my thoughts I look at Fili and smile widely in thanks. But all I get in return is a shell-shocked look. "What?" I ask looking at myself. _Ohh, now I get it. _I finally remembered what was so important. The trolls had taken my shirt. I was currently standing in front of fourteen males just in my bra._ Jai doesn't count because he's my brother._ I squeak and hide behind Fili himself as I realized others might be looking as well. Apparently they had. I peer around Fili's broad shoulders to find most of the company staring, mouths wide open including that one certain person. _Kili. _

When Fili finally gets his bearings, he says, "Well then. There's nothing to see here. Just get back to your business everyone," as he backs up slowly to the trees. I back up with him, glad that he was moving slowly because my injuries that had gone numb were getting feeling back. I peek around again and find that all the dwarfs' faces were red as tomatoes. They all turned their backs and forcefully went about with their business. All except Jai who was looking scared. _Scared of what? _He hurries over just as Fili and I reach the trees.

Without turning around, Fili takes off his jacket and then his top tunic. He hands it to me saying, "Here. Wear this. It'll be big on you but it'll have to do for now." I take it from his hands and put it on slowly, watching out for my ribs. It still slips down one of my shoulders. "Why didn't you say anything?" Fili asks quietly.

"Honestly? I forgot." I want to smack my head repeatedly against the tree in embarrassment. Just then Jai walks over.

"**Agni! What happened? Let me see your ribs. The bruises were huge," **Jai blabbers as Fili turns around confused. Jai reaches towards me. I swat his hand away.

"**I'm fine. It's not too bad," **I grimace just as particularly painful throb runs through my body, not really supporting my words.

Fili looks at Jai's worried expression and my pained one. He immediately asks, "What's wrong?"

Jai sighs and runs his hand down his face. "Didn't you see her bruises?"

Recognition dawns on his face. Both of them look at me with similar expressions of pity, worry, and expectancy. _Great. Now I have two brothers instead of one. Except one is hot and not really my brother but still. _Sighing, I lift up the hem of the forest green tunic showing them my stomach. _I think I've lost weight since I've arrived. _I think as I see my ribs slightly through my skin.

Both of them gasp. Fili reaches out to inspect them but looks at Jai for permission first. Jai nods, "You know more about this than me so go ahead." Then Fili looks at me for permission. I nod and get ready for more pain. Fili gingerly places his entire hand on my stomach and carefully pushes a little. I gasp at the sudden increase in pain. Fili looks up at my pained expression and removes his hand. I drop the tunic.

"Alright, I'm no expert but you definitely either have a cracked rib or two. Or maybe just some severely bruised ribs." He says, matter-of-factly.

"No shit, Sherlock," I mumble under my breath.

Fili continues talking so I don't think he heard me. "But, let's take you to Oin,"

"Oh yeah. I was also stabbed in the leg," I say, nonchalantly.

"What?!" Both Fili and Jai exclaim immediately examining my legs. I show them my left thigh from which my jeans were soaked with blood. Before I knew what was going on, Fili had lifted me up bridal style and was walking towards the company who were beginning to move somewhere else.

I uselessly punch Fili over and over again. "Put me down! I'm fine. I can walk," I complain already embarrassed enough.

"Hush," he says as if talking to a little kid. "Your leg could be infected." Fili walks through the company with Jai trailing behind. He takes us straight to Oin. "Oin, she has a stabbed leg that may be infected and some bruised, possibly cracked ribs," he lists off to Oin loudly so he can hear.

"My, my," Oin says already searching through his medical bag. "When we stop at the troll caves, I'll see what I can do." Fili, Jai, and I all nod. Fili then falls back close to the end of the procession. I look to see who's next to us and see Kili. _Oh no. _

I look at Fili who smirks mischievously then says, "Here, Kili. Could you hold her please? I need to rest my arms."

Kili who appeared to be deep in thought, looks up and see us. Almost immediately he blushes but nods to Fili's request. _Wait, did he say 'rest his arms'? Hey! Did he just say I was heavy? That little … _As Kili takes me from Fili's arms, he reassures, "Don't mind him. He said that on purpose to rile you up."

"I know. My brother says stuff like that often too," I scowl.

"Big brothers will be big brothers," Kili and I say at the same time. We look at each other in surprise, then crack up breaking the tension from what happened before. We were in a comfortable silence until we came upon a clearing. Straight ahead was a cave. _The troll cave. _I watch as Gandalf, Thorin, Dwalin, Gloin, Bofur, and Nori walk in the stinky smelling cavern that I could smell all the way over here. I buried my face in Kili's shoulder to hide from the hideous odor. Now I was smelling dirt, leather and something else. The same scent I smelled before I fell asleep on my first night here in Middle Earth. _Just Kili's natural smell. It's nice. _I breathe it in, enjoying it. _Now that sounds weird. Maybe I should stop smelling him. _I feel myself being lowered so I look up and see Kili setting me down on a boulder.

"Thanks," I smile sincerely at him.

"You're welcome," he smiles back. Just then Oin walks over.

"Let's see what we have here," he says, rubbing his hands together. He looks at my leg first, examining it. Then he pulls out a dagger scaring the shit out of me. "Don't worry lass. I just need to cut away part of your… ah trousers," he calmly says after seeing my alarmed expression. _Nooo! My favorite jeans. Why?! _While I was having a temper tantrum in my head, I watched silently as a massive hole was cut into my jeans. "Ahh," is all Oin says before poking my wound. I bite my lip to keep from screaming. Clenching my fists in pain, I look at Oin with an expression saying, 'what was that for?!' But before I can object, he pokes it again. I bite my lip so hard I was afraid it was going to start bleeding.

A hand slips into one of my clenched fists, startling me. I look over and see Kili sitting next to me with a comforting smile on his face. Glad he was here, I relax a little, leaning my shoulder against his somewhat. "I believe the blade has broken in your leg. I'm going to have to dig it out." Oin explains. "You might want to drink some spirits to numb it down." He suggests.

Swallowing nervously, I shake my head. "No spirits." Is all I say.

"Are you sure 'bout that lassie? This is going to hurt very much," Oin says, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Absolutely."

"Alright. Your choice," He says pulling out a blade that looked like a scalpel and something else that looked like pliers.

"Wait," I say. Kili and Oin look at me. "Don't you have any kind of anesthesia besides alcohol?"

Oin shakes his head. "No. Sorry lass." I just nod begrudgingly. "Here. Bite on this," he hands me handkerchief that looked clean. _Whatever. I haven't even brushed my teeth in days. _I ball it up and put it in my mouth. "Ready?"

_Ready as I'll ever be. _I nod. Then I crush Kili's hand and bite into the handkerchief as hard as I can. I bury my face in between Kili's shoulder and his neck. _I should have taken the alcohol. _Fortunately, the handkerchief muffled my screams.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note**

** Hey guys. I'm really sorry about putting this story on a hiatus, but it'll be more like random sporadic updates, like usual. I know, I'm really bad at updating at a normal rate. I deleted the author's note so this is Chapter 15. And, I'm really excited with having SO many followers! Thank you so much. It makes me incredibly ecstatic at having 31 FREAKING FOLLOWERS. I believe that establishes the amount of happiness you guys bring me. Anyways, please enjoy and review this little splurge.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

I sat on a different boulder, closer to the bushes and the only person here was Oin who was bandaging my ribs. I was holding my, well Fili's tunic, up to he could wrap the bandage around and around my torso. He'd already finished my leg. After screaming in agony and taking in the pitying looks of the others, Kili carried me over here to a more secluded area to bandage my ribs. My shoulder twinged from the time Kili shook my hand so enthusiastically. I smiled to myself but immediately grimaced as Oin tugged particularly hard on the bandage. "Alright, yer all done," Oin says, standing up and crossing his arms, proud of his hard work.

Pulling the tunic down, I try and stand up only to fall against a tree. My back slammed into the prickly wood, poking my upper back where the bandage didn't cover. I let out a heavy breath as I breathed in sharply. "Take it easy, lass. Get someone to help you get used to walk- Lass! Stop! Where are ye going?" exclaims Oin as I limp off, grimacing and holding my side. I was determined to ignore the pain because I knew there was a lot of moving I needed to keep up with ahead of me. I look up, squinting at the sunlight to see Gandalf handing Bilbo his sword, soon to be named Sting. I move closer, just in time to catch Gandalf's last sentence.

"And I hope you never have to. But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one." _Wow. Without this quote Frodo and Sam would never have made it to Mordor and been able to destroy the One Ring. Well, that is way off topic and totally not relevant to my current situation. _I see Jai sitting with Fili with a worried look on his face. He looked like he was ranting about something.

"Why can't I stay with her? She's my freaking sister. I deserve to be with her when she is getting medical care. Why?" the last 'why' was said with so much desperation that I almost started crying. I never knew he cared this much about me. _Well he is my brother so whatever._

Fili momentarily looks away from Jai with a conflicted expression. When his eyes land on me, instantly he smiles. "Well, you don't have to worry any longer, my friend," Fili says, patting Jai on the back. He gestures to me when Jai looked confused.

**"Agni!" **he grasps me by the shoulders, looks me over, and then embraces me being careful not to squeeze too hard. **"Are you okay now? Do you need any help?" **he spouts out before I shut him up.

"Don't worry bro. I'm fine. Well, I'm getting there. I'm almost fine… ish." I smile sheepishly. Jai opens his mouth to speak but his interrupted.

"Something's coming!" Thorin exclaims. I remain calm because I know exactly who it is.

"Stay together! Hurry, now! Arm yourselves!" yells Gandalf. Everyone gathers up in a clump with their weapons out point in the general direction of the voice. Jai and Ori were shoved to the middle of the group whereas I was gently nudged. I saw Kili turning around. Once he locked gazes with me, he nodded and faced the 'threat' with a serious face, his bow and arrow ready to be drawn.

All of a sudden a dozen giant rabbits burst out of the bushes pulling a carriage carrying someone. Radagast the Brown.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" he screams, startling and confusing everyone.

"Radagast. It's Radagast the Brown," Gandalf explains. Putting his sword away, Gandalf approaches Radagast. "What on Earth are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong," Radagast states, with a worried look on his face.

"Yes?" asks the grey wizard. Radagast goes to speak but stops.

"Just give me a minute. Um…Oh! I had a thought and now I've lost it. It was…it was- was right there, on the tip of my tongue! Oh!" he exclaims sticking out his tongue showing us the stick bug in his mouth. "It's not a thought as all! It's a silly old stick insect," I look away disgusted. I tune out the rest of the conversation, walking away dispersing with the rest of the dwarves. I sat on a nearby boulder, thankful to get weight off my injured leg. Sitting down heavily, I lightly rub the bandages on my leg and ribs. I watch as Gandalf gives his pipe to Radagast. _No offense, but isn't he high enough on shrooms? _I chuckle to myself causing a tiny twinge of pain to roll through me. But as fast as it came, it was gone.

Then as I watch, Radagast hands Gandalf something wrapped in fabric. I shudder hearing Radagast say, "That is not from the world of the living," ominously. All of a sudden howl shatters the relative silence.

Instantly, Bilbo speaks up, stuttering. "Was that a wolf? Are there…are there wolves out there?"

"Wolves? That is not a wolf," Bofur answers lifting his weapon. I straighten up looking for Jai. He was standing by Bofur, looking around at the situation in worry. All of a sudden a warg pops out of the wilderness and leaps right past Jai and Bofur. It lands right in front of me and snarls at me. Suddenly a gleaming sword is swinging past me, slicing into the warg's neck. Thorin pulls his sword out, blood dripping off on to my pant leg.

WHOOSH!

An arrow flies barely missing my ear and embeds itself in the warg sneaking from behind us. Gasping I stand up quickly and stumble into a pair of arms. I turn awkwardly and see Bilbo's slightly uncomfortable face. Apologizing I stand up and brush myself off while moving away.

"Warg scouts! Which means an orc pack is not far behind!" Thorin exclaims.

"Orc pack?" Bilbo squeaks.

Gandalf strides towards Thorin, looming over him. "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" he booms.

"No one."

"Who did you tell?!" Gandalf exclaims.

"No one, I swear!" Thorin yells frustrated by this line of questioning. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted," Gandalf answers gloomily. During all of this, I had speed walked as fast as I could to where Fili, Kili, and Jai were standing. I clutched Jai's arm as he squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"We have to get out of here," Dwalin says.

"We can't! We have no ponies. They bolted," Ori says coming down the hill with Bifur by his side. This was starting to get more and more real by the minute. Jai and I were just swiveling our heads whenever someone said something

"I'll draw them off," Radagast suggests.

Gandalf looks at him practically scoffing. "These are Gundabad wargs. They will outrun you!"

Radagast looks Gandalf dead in the eye and says, "These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try."

Radagast climbs onto his sled and races out of here, turning left straight into the plains. Then we take off and hide behind a large boulder watching Radagast drawing the wargs and their riders away. Gandalf watches as we hear Radagast goading the orcs on.

"Come on!" Gandalf says gesturing us forward. We run as I try and stay with them. I limp run trying to ignore the pain pulsing through me. Sweat started running down my face as we hide behind another rock, the orcs passing straight in front of us. "Stay together," Gandalf warns.

"Move!" Thorin orders. Just focusing on breathing I continue keeping pace with Bombur close to the middle of the group. All of a sudden the orcs pass right in front of us, _again_. "Ori, no! Come back," Thorin exclaims pulling Ori back to safety.

"All of you, come on, come on! Quick!" Gandalf ushers us ahead. I continue close to Bombur with Jai staying with me. _Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Hee, whoo. Hee, whoo. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. _Just repeating things in my head, we slow down and hide behind another rock. I hear the breathing of the orc and the warg above us. I was successfully hidden with Jai half behind Bombur. I see Kili nod to Thorin from the corner of my eye. _Shoot straight, _I think sending him positive vibes so he would hit the warg just as he does in the movie.

I watch in awe as he fluidly turns and shoots a blind arrow at the warg and its rider. The wolf hybrid falls off the boulder right in front of Dwalin and his axe. But before they could end its pitiful life, both the orc and the warg squeal and howl attracting the attention of the rest of the pack. "Move! Run!" Gandalf yelled. And then we were running again.

"There they are!" Gloin pointed out.

"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf guided. I ignored everyone else and followed Gandalf, tugging on Jai's arm to follow me. Gandalf goes towards this giant rock which had an aura around it, informing me of the entrance to the hidden path. I turned noticing Kili shooting the wargs and the orcs. In that split second Gandalf disappeared. _Damn it! _I knew where he had went so I immediately ran to the rock but then realizing that everyone else didn't I turned around _again_.

Everyone was panicking because they had noticed that Gandalf had disappeared. Just as I was about to yell to them, Gandalf popped out from behind the rock and yelled," This way, you fools!" which was not very nice considering the fact that none of them knew that the entrance was even there.

"Come on, move! Quickly! All of you!" Thorin orders everyone. Jai and I were the closest so we went down first. We jumped together and slid down. That was a bad idea considering all the injuries I'd accumulated. I gasp at the impact, jarring my ribs. Realizing that really heavy dwarves were going to start rolling down, I moved clutching my side panting at the pain. I sat down in a corner slowly bringing my breathing down as my ribs continued throbbing.

Everyone starts slide/rolling down and standing up immediately or just continue rolling until they slammed into the back wall of the cave. I looked around and spotted Jai standing not too far from me helping Bofur stand up. _That was nice of him. _Soon everyone was down including Fili, Kili, and Thorin who had stayed up there the longest.

All of a sudden horns were blowing and we began to hear the familiar sounds of orcs squealing and bows twanging. Then an ugly ass orc rolls down the entrance. Dwalin stops it from coming any closer with his foot as Thorin pulls out the arrow.

"Elves," Thorin spits in disgust, tossing the arrow away.

"Elves," I whisper in relief. _Finally, maybe Jai and I'll get some real food. Maybe even a shower. God knows I need one. Especially all these dwarves. Hanging out with a gang of stinky men—well dwarves really kills your sense of smell._


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note**

** Ahh. Long time no see. Hey guys. Sorry for the **_**really **_**long wait. As I said before, the updates will be quite sporadic. Maybe after my semester finals which are coming up at the end of January. I don't know if anything will change after that but hopefully I will be able to give you more updates. I hope you keep reading, and please enjoy. This is a little bit of a filler chapter.**

**To my reviewers, sorry for not ever replying to you guys. From now on, I will reply here to any of your reviews. ;)**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or not?" Dwalin calls out after looking down the tunnel path.

"We follow it, of course!" Bofur yells.

Gandalf agrees, "I think that would be wise." I get stuck between Jai and Fili with Kili behind him. Squeezing through some tight spots made me gasp as they rubbed against my bandaged ribs. _If I can barely fit through this, how the hell is Bombur getting through this? _Fortunately Bombur was behind me so we were able to keep going. _How long is this pathway? _Right when I thought this was never going to end, we pop out on to an outlook. I look up and gasp, not in pain, but in awe and amazement.

"The Valley of Imladris. In the common tongue, it's known by another name," Gandalf announces.

"Rivendell," Bilbo answers.

"Wow…" I sigh, looking upon the beauty of the elven city. _This is even more beautiful than the movies. _**"Jai, beautiful isn't it?" **I ask.

"Yeah,"he answers back still distracted by the splendor of it all.

"Here lies the last homely house, east of the sea," Gandalf says. I watch Gandalf and Thorin's heated conversation discreetly.

"This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy," Thorin says sharply.

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself," Gandalf says, exasperated.

"You think the Elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us."

"Of course, they will. But we have questions that need to be answered," Thorin sighs and looks away relenting. "If we are to be successful this will need to be handled with tact, and respect, and no small degree of charm, which is why you will leave the talking to me."

We begin our trek down the mountain path, through some woods full of light, and over glistening streams. In almost no time, we were walking in pairs over a bridge and into a courtyard. The dwarves mill around while Bilbo spins around in awe at his surroundings. I see movement from the corner of my eye. Turning I see, an elf coming down the stairs in front of us. He was beautiful. Truly, but considering he was the first elf I have ever seen in person before, of course I would think he was beautiful.

"Mithrandir," he says to Gandalf.

"Ah, Lindir," Gandalf greets.

"Stay sharp," Thorin whispers to Dwalin. Gandalf and Lindir start talking in elvish to each other.

What I remember it to be from the movie was along the lines of, "We heard you had crossed into the Valley," said Lindir.

"I must speak with Lord Elrond," Gandalf said in the common tongue.

"My Lord Elrond is not here," Lindir replied in the common tongue as well.

"Not here? Where is he?" Gandalf questions suspiciously. All of a sudden a horn is going off, the same one as before when we were being attacked by the wargs and the orcs. I notice Gandalf smirk victoriously at Lindir.

"Close ranks!" Thorin orders. Out of nowhere I was being pulled into the middle of a pack of dwarves with Bilbo and Jai. _Not again._ Many armor-clad elves astride beautiful horses were circling us. One horse walks up to the front and Mr. Smith jumps off his horse. _Hehe. Mr. Smith. I wonder if he can dodge bullets err… well arrows. Probably._ Lord Elrond begins speaking to Gandalf.

"Gandalf!" he greets.

"Lord Elrond," Gandalf greets. Then they start talking in elvish again. I kind of drown them all out for the moment and take a look at my awe-inspiring surroundings. There were plenty of small trickling waterfalls and vibrant green grasses at the edges of clear streams. The forest surrounding us had an abundance of healthy trees as well as wildlife. Birds were twittering their melodious songs as squirrels and other wildlife chittered along. My ears catch on the word orc as Gandalf and Lord Elrond's conversation continues.

"Strange for orcs to come so close to our borders. Something or someone has drawn them near," Elrond lightly accuses.

"Ah, that may have been us," Gandalf replies slightly bashfully as he gestures at us. Thorin steps forward as the rest of the company loosen their formation giving me some more elbow room.

"Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain," Elrond announces regally.

"I do not believe we have met," Thorin says actually a bit politely.

"You have your Grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the mountain."

"Indeed," Thorin says politely again. But then he replies rudely "He made no mention of _you_," _Ah, there it is._

Elrond says something quite complicated sounding in elvish while looking into the eyes of the Dwarf Prince. Gloin gets agitated, his voice steadily rising as he spoke, "What is he sayin'? Does he offer us insult?!"

"No, Master Gloin, he's offering you food," Gandalf says frustrated. Everyone regroups and discusses among themselves, but I think I hear something oddly amusing from Dwalin's mouth.

"What kind of steak do you think they'll be serving?" I giggle quietly to myself but stop with a wince as I clutch my ribs. As Gloin answers, I feel several pairs of eyes on me. I turn to see Gandalf whispering into Lord Elrond's ear as he looks at me nodding. The dwarves start filing in up the stairs following Lindir as Elrond makes his way towards me. Jai lags behind and stays loyally by my side. In the course of this action, Fili and Kili notice and hurry towards me. Elrond's eyebrows merely raise infinitesimally.

"Lady Agni, Gandalf has informed me of your condition. I offer my aid in helping you," Lord Elrond says bowing a little bit. Immediately I let out a large sigh of relief and offer him a large smile.

"Thank you so much. I'll gladly accept," I answer gratefully. As we start walking towards the stairs everyone disappeared from, I feel a tug on my hand. I turn and see Kili and Fili staring worriedly at me. I glance at Jai and see him smiling relaxed; I wave him on to where the meals were happening. He was no longer worried about me because he completely trusted Elrond. Jai and Gandalf go together as those two start a conversation. I turn back to Fili and Kili's concerned looks which looked kind of angry now as they watched Jai walk away. "Hey!" I snap my fingers in their faces bringing them back to me.

"How could he just leave you like that here? He's your brother!" Fili says.

"Does he not feel the need to protect you?!" Kili says at the same time.

I frown at them. "My brother knows perfectly well the risks of this world and the unsavory creatures that live in it. You have no right to judge him or his actions. By the way, I do not need to be protected, thank you. I can take care of myself perfectly fine. And frankly, there is nothing to protect me from in this place, so if you will excuse me, I will take my leave from you two." After my rant, I stomp over to Elrond or rather I try to but stop after the first one after a wave of pain flashes up my left leg. I look up at Elrond who looks quite amused.

Looking at me, he says, "Shall we get going then?"

"Yeah, but can you get someone to show them to the eating area? I have a feeling they'll get lost," I whisper conspiratorially.

"Of course," Elrond says with a small smile at my antics. Before I know it, I am in a huge room with a four poster bed, plenty of space, and a balcony. "This will be your room during your stay here. Before I summon a healer, will you tell me the severity of your wounds?"

"Of course. Well, first my brother and I both have cut up feet because we didn't have shoes for a while, but Oin disinfected those and I think they're doing pretty good. After that, I accidently stabbed myself with a ridiculously small knife in my left thigh," I gesture at it. "And last but definitely not least my ribs. They are severely bruised and maybe even cracked. All of these injuries were treated but running away from orcs at full speed may have damaged any and all of my injuries even more," I explain thoroughly. Elrond just nods the whole time while thinking.

"Thank you. I will be right back with a healer and I may be able to help you as well," he starts walking away but I call out stopping him.

"Is there anywhere I can bathe before you start… healing me?" I ask hopefully.

"Yes, of course. Just through that door right there is the washing room and I'll have some clothes be dropped off as soon as possible," Elrond says looking at the state of my clothes.

"Thank you so much," I gush as I limp as fast as I can to the door, excited to get clean. But I stop on the way. "But please, no dresses," I plead.

He smiles understandingly and leaves. I open the door and gasp. Inside was a huge bathtub, more like a Jacuzzi full of water with steam floating on the surface. _Awesome. _I take off my clothes, gingerly and lay them down far enough away so they won't get wet but close enough so I can reach them. I also unwrap the bandages around my ribs, my leg, and my feet. I look at my feet and they seem better but my leg is definitely going to sting. Looking around, I notice a shelf with towels on it and a robe next to it hanging on a hook. _How convenient. _Slowly, I slip my toe into the water to test its temperature. _Seems good enough. _I spot some stairs going into the 'tub' and walk down them. I ease my leg in slowly as the hot water splashes against my wound. Hissing, I continue down. Gently I let my torso into the water and it felt like heaven. My poor bruised ribs were singing as they relaxed in the water. I sit on the steps and just chill for a while.

The tub wasn't too deep so I walked over to where my clothes were and set off to start cleaning them a bit by bit. One of them was Fili's tunic which didn't seem too bad so I set it aside. My jeans were a lost cause with the hole in the left thigh that Oin had to cut out to get a look at my wound. So I just went back to Fili's tunic and scrubbed off the dirt on the back that came from sliding into the hidden pass. Dunking my head in to the water, I scrubbed all the dirt, grime, and to my disgust, twigs from my hair and the rest of my body; I finally felt clean for the first time in days. I stayed in the tub for so long that my fingers were starting to become all wrinkled up and prune-like. Getting out, I hurried over to the towels, dried myself off and then wrapped up in the robe. Towel drying my short hair, I limp over to the door that separated the bathing room from the bedroom. Holding the towel in one hand, I opened the door and peeked out making sure no one was there before I reclaimed my clothes and walked in.

Looking around, I see some clothes laid out on the bed. Excited, I toss my old clothes on to a nearby chair and grab the new ones. There was a light green shirt that reached my knees but was fitted, brown leggings, and a cloak like the one Frodo and Sam got in the Lord of the Rings. I practically squealed at that, a real souvenir from Middle Earth. There was also underwear which I put on right away. Slipping on the top, I leave off the leggings and the cloak for now because the healer will have to look at my leg anyways. Remembering Fili's tunic that I had to return, I laid it out to dry on one of the chairs. The top's sleeves reached till the middle of my forearm. Walking around I almost trip over something. _Oh my god! Boots too! _I grin as I pick up brown boots that looked really comfortable. They didn't look like they were meant for hard climbing but you never know with elves. They seemed like the kind of boots Legolas had. _Guess we can compare them later on. _Sitting down at the foot of the bed, I wait.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note**

** HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY! 39 FOLLOWERS! I AM SO HAPPY. Great start to the New Year.** **Here's another chapter. Hope you like it!**

**To Marina Oakenshield: I'm glad you like my story and enjoy this chap.**

**To Wolfbat95: Thank you and I will write forever and ever. I absolutely love writing.**

**To: mlee102500: I updated. YAY! Twice in two days!**

**And last but certainly not least to all my followers, favoriters and all my new followers and favoriters, thank you for reading. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

As if they knew I was done, I heard a knock on my door. I limp over and open it to see a tall elf lady with long brown hair, blue eyes, and she was carrying a small basket with little bottles in it. "Hi," I greet and let her in.

"Hello. My lord Elrond has informed me of your injuries that I am to tend to," she said politely.

"Yes. Would you like to see my leg or my ribs first?" I ask.

"Leg, since you are already ready for it, my lady." I nod and sit down on a chair while she sets up on the table next to me. She takes a good look at my leg and begins rummaging around in her basket. "It seems to have been reopened but it is clean and seems to be in good shape, but I will have to put some of this ointment on it and bind it." I just nod along while she pulls out a white, jelly-like stuff. She rubs it onto my leg which I thought would sting but instead it sent a soothing feeling through me. I sigh. She binds my leg up and I move away to slowly pull on my leggings. Returning, I lift my shirt high enough to show her my stomach which was a sickly black and blue. Carefully she prods in different places as I let out a hiss. I cry out as she pokes somewhere on my right side.

"This one is most likely cracked but the rest are bruised. All I can do for these is wrap them up, tightly so they don't move. This may hurt and you will have to get used to the stiffness," she explains as she pulls out a roll of bandages. Standing up, she begins tightly wrapping around my torso. "And I also suggest at least a week of bed rest."

_Like that's going to happen. _Everything is occurring according to the movie so we will be staying for just one night. I nod in understanding as she packs up and moves towards the door. "Thank you for helping me."

"You are welcome. It is my duty. If you need any of my assistance during your stay here, I will be at your disposal," she bows as she retreats from my door. Shutting the door, I sigh heavily as I spot a mirror next to my bed. Making my way over, I stare at my reflection. I didn't look any different except my cheeks seemed hollower and my hair was a mess. _There is a drawer under the side table. Maybe there's a brush in there. _Pulling it open, I smile. _Victory! _Grabbing the brush, I run it through my short hair, cleaning it up considerably. _ Now all I have to do is find where everyone is supposed to be eating. _To my surprise, not that much time had gone by. The sun seemed to be around the same place as it was before.

Slipping on my boots, I sneak into the hallway, picking which way to go. _Left or right? Eenie, meenie, minee, moe. Right it is. _Keeping my ears open, I listen for the sound of rowdy dwarves. Sure enough, there was plenty of sound pollution coming from down the hall. I could hear someone singing, and it wasn't an elf.

"There's an inn, there's an inn, a merry old inn beneath an old grey hill, and they brew a beer so brown that the man in the moon himself came down one night to drink his fill!" Bofur sang as the rest of the company sang along and cheered. As he continued I peered around a corner to see the dwarves throwing food around and being entirely disrespectful. Despite their rudeness, I still let as a small smile slip on to my face as I watched them all have fun, including my brother. Fortunately, Jai wasn't throwing any food around. Instead he was watching, while eating his fill. I bet he was as hungry as I was. _Speaking of hunger…_ I slowly but quietly make my way to the table where Jai was at as to not attract attention to myself. There was a little bit of space next to Jai, so I slip into it, surprising him.

"Yo," I say.

"You look clean," he greets me.

"Thanks. So what's good here?" I ask right away so I can get started.

"Um, that white pastry thing there is awesome and there's this really cool juice that I have no idea what it's made of, but it's amazing," Jai lists out gesturing at the stuff he was mentioning. I nod and grab a fork and dig into the salad in front of me while grabbing the pastry that Jai liked. A hand lands on mine, reaching for the same pastry. I turn and see Kili one dwarf over. Without noticing, I'd sat down right in between Fili and Jai with Kili next to his brother. Our eyes meet and I look away, blushing. Pulling my hand away, I gesture for him to take it.

"You can have it," I say, sending him a quick smile.

"No, you can have it. You obviously have better plans for it than I do," Kili says smiling back.

"No, no. You have it," I insist.

"Oh, for Durin's sake! There's plenty on the plate, just take one, you two," Fili exclaims, exasperated. He reaches out and hands us each one. My face reddens, as I look away. I take a bite out of the pastry, and close my eyes in pleasure.

"Oh my god, dude! This is amazing!" I exclaim to my brother. He just nods at me while stuffing his face with a piece of bread. Turning just in time, I catch Kili launching the white pastry a hair's width away from Lindir's face. The look of distaste on his face made me crack up, clutching my ribs as they screamed in pain. But I just couldn't stop laughing; there were tears running down my face, not only from my laughter but from my pain as well. Soon, instead of laughing, I was gasping desperately for air.

Nobody noticed because the rowdiness of the dwarves was overwhelming. Fortunately, Jai and Fili did because they were right next to me. Jai began rubbing my back like our mother used to do when we were sick with coughing fits. Meanwhile Fili was just talking soothingly. "Shh. Just breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out," he chanted to get my breathing under control. I went along with his beat and soon found myself calming down, slowly making my way back to a normal rate of breathing.

"Thank you," I breathe out quietly.

"Not a problem. I had to do the same thing with Kili once when he hurt his ribs too," Fili explains patting my back lightly.

"What made you laugh so hard?" Jai asked.

I giggle. "Just Lindir's face when Kili's cake almost hit him in the face," I say quickly, leaning past Fili and giving Kili a thumbs up. He grins victoriously back. _It's not that I don't like Lindir, it was just the look of utter disgust that fueled my laughter. _Everyone starts to get up so I grab a few more of those pastries and a glass of the juice that Jai was talking about. Following everyone to wherever they were going, I munch on my food. Focusing my attention on the company we enter a balcony type thing but it was also like a room. Everyone tossed their packs, or what they had left because most of their things were on the ponies that bolted. But they all still had their weapons, thank goodness.

"Let's go find somewhere to bathe," Bofur announces.

"You could ask the elves to help you find somewhere to…" I trail off as my advice falls on deaf ears. _Well then. They can go do their own thing. I'll tell Jai about my awesome bathroom. He'll listen. Plus, I don't think he'll want to bathe with all of the dwarves. _"Hey Jai. Dude, they gave me my own room. It's got an awesome bath too. Plus they gave me something so cool that I wanna show you," I tell him rapidly while grabbing his arm and dragging him down the hallway from which I came from.

"Okay, okay," he laughs as he tugs his arm away. I reach a door but hesitate before grasping the door handle.

"I think this one's mine," I say. _Let's hope so. _Turning the door handle, I push open the door. Fortunately, the room inside was familiar. _Whew. _I pick up the cloak from where I left it on the bed and hurryingly put it on. Spinning in a circle with my arms out, look at Jai. "Look!" I lower my arms quickly to relieve the sudden pain coming from my ribs.

His jaw drops as he takes in the cloak which was so similar to the ones that Frodo and the Fellowship received. "Not fair. I want one," he whines. I smirk at him.

Shrugging nonchalantly I answer, "They'll probably give you some clothes too if you asked. Maybe you would get a cloak too." He nods surely and walks to the door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go ask an elf if I can have some spare clothes kinda like yours," he says.

_Where did my shy brother go? _"Ok. The boots are awesome too, just fyi. I'm gonna take a walk," I say. Nodding to each other, we walk different ways; he goes back to where we came from but I choose to go the other way and explore Rivendell. The air here was different. Though it was clean and refreshing, there was a calming sense to it; as if it was inviting me to stay a while and rest. _Well, I was told to do exactly that. _I continue walking, deep in thought.

_Thorin said that Jai and I were unofficially part of the company but will he make us stay here when they leave? I want to stay here where it is safe and calm and peaceful. I can figure out what happened to Jai and me, and maybe even how to get back. But, I also want to take part in the legendary quest to slay a dragon and reclaim a homeland. But we could get hurt or die. Evidence from how hurt I am right now. And we haven't even finished the first movie yet._

Letting out an enormous sigh, I run my hand down my face. Rounding a bend, I hear some splashing. Eager to see another beautiful water fall, I look up. But what I see will be forever seared into my brain. Thirteen naked dwarves splashing about in a fountain.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note**

** Yo, yo, yo, my peeps! Well, it has been a long time. Anyway, while I was gone, I have obviously gone to watch The Battle of the Five Armies. SPOILERS AHEAD. Truth is, I thought I would be sobbing when Fili, Kili, and Thorin died but the truth is, I started crying at the part when Bilbo is saying goodbye to the rest of the company close to the end of the movie. That's when I shed some tears resulting in my mom teasing me. :'( ;) Also I revised all the chapters before this one. It's nothing that you will have to go back and read again. Just some typo fixes and what not.**

_**Bold Italics = their other language**_

_Italics = thoughts_

**Enjoy Chap. 18!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

Agni P.O.V.

Unable to look away, I stand paralyzed. The dwarves were bathing in a fountain which was shaped like many bowls pouring into each other. Off to the side Ori was taking off his clothes and Nori noticed as well. Using a piece of clothing, Nori whipped Ori's butt. While this was occurring, six dwarves were having a chicken fight. It looked like on one side was Dori who was on Oin's shoulders who was on Gloin's shoulders. On the other side was Bofur on Bifur's shoulders who was on Dwalin's shoulders. Eventually Dori's side fell down. Higher above, it seemed that Bombur had climbed up and cannon-balled splashing water all over Balin who was relaxing a little off to the side. But what caught my entire attention was Fili and Kili jumping, sliding, and falling from the very top of the fountain and down into a bowl a little higher than where the chicken fight was going on. _It seems I miss counted. Only twelve dwarves are here. _Thorin was nowhere in sight. _I guess he would be too dignified to be caught doing this._

All of a sudden I realized what is happening. _Shit! I need to get out of here. _Letting out an involuntary squeak I spin around and walk away as fast as I can. _Oh my god. I'm never going to be able to look any of them in the eyes ever again. This is so embarrassing. Well, it must be more embarrassing for them than me. But it is their fault for bathing in such a public place, for god-sakes'. Well, I didn't see Bilbo there so that means he was smart and got a room. _"Ughh," I grunt in frustration. _Stupid dwarves. Giving me unnecessary stress and stupid things to stress about. Buuut, Fili and Kili do have great bods. Hehe. _Both of them had abs that looked and probably were rock hard. Plus, their entire bodies were covered in muscle. _Fortunately_ I was too far away to see any other… details. Clearing my throat, I try and think about something else.

Just as I am about to turn a corner, I bump into something. Stumbling backwards with a groan I look up to see Elrond and Lindir with surprised looks on their faces. Curling my hair behind my hair, I straighten my clothes. "Hello," I say with more composure than I felt at the moment.

Elrond took in my flushed cheeks and shifty eyes as he asked, "Agni, how are you?"

Awkwardly laughing I answer, "I'm doing well. Thank you." Hearing a loud splash, all of us turn to look in the direction I came from. Blushing profusely, I look down and quickly say, "I would suggest you to not go that way. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you later. Bye." Hurriedly I walk away. Looking back I see them looking curiously at each other before deciding to keep going in that direction. _Their loss, I guess. _

Still walking I ended up in a pavilion of sorts. _Looks familiar. Hmm… _I notice the mural on the wall and almost gasp. It was the painting of Isildur cutting Sauron's fingers off. My eyes linger on The Ring. Turning around I see his sword in fragments. _Oh, what was it called? Mmh. _The Sword of Elendil, Narsil. _Reforged into _Andúril, Flame of the West. _Wow… _is all I can think as I stare at this relic. I don't know how long I spent looking at this fragmented weapon but long enough that when I looked away the sun was well on its way to setting. I try and retrace my footsteps but end up getting lost. _Oh great. Now what do I do? _As it gets darker, I try and stick closer to a wall so I wouldn't get completely lost. As I wander along I tune out everything and focus on my beautiful surroundings. As I turn a corner I get a full view of the sunset. It was beautiful. With hues of the rainbow I stand entranced. Just as I'm about to continue walking I bump into someone _again._

Letting out a grunt I land on my butt and wince as my ribs and my leg hurt. Looking up annoyed at the person, I keep my face as neutral as possible. Standing in front of me was an attractive man. When I say man, I mean _man._ He was a human undoubtedly but he also was someone I was all too familiar with, Aragorn. He was obviously 60 years younger than in the Lord of the Rings but it was definitely he. As I internally freaked out, he had a sympathetic look on his face as he held out a hand to help me up. Grabbing his warm hand I'm almost instantly on my feet.

"I express my deepest apologies, my lady," he says staring at me with beautiful blue-grey eyes as he takes the hand he still held and kissed it.

Gently pulling it out of his grasp I babble, "It's not a problem really. No problem at all." Hooking my arm in his, he pulls me along as if we were old friends and continues the conversation.

"I assume you are with the company of dwarves that arrived this morning?" he questions politely.

"Yes, I am. But well you see, I'm not actually a dwarf," I begin. Aragorn looks at me and nods as if seeing it himself.

"Yes, I did notice the lack of facial hair quite early. You don't have big feet like a hobbit, then what are you?" he recites his observations while staring at the sunset.

"Well, it's kinda complicated. My brother and I used to be human and though we were short for humans we weren't the size of hobbits. We shrunk. Suddenly if I may add. If we were back to our normal selves we would be a few inches shorter than you," I describe, keeping out the 'how it happened' part of it. The whole time he is just nodding along as if everything I was saying made any sense at all.

"I see," he mutters. Beginning to see familiar architecture again I realize he has led me back to my room. "I believe you never gave me your name," he inquires looking at me.

"Oh. My name is Agni. What is yours?"

"I have many names but the one I prefer you call me is Strider," he says cryptically.

"Well, alright then Strider. It was amazing meeting you," I say as we reach my door.

"Likewise Lady Agni," he says. "Hopefully I will see you again soon."

As he walks away, I whisper to myself, "I hope so too." Opening my door, I flop onto my bed and sigh loudly._ I wonder why he's here. Mmh. He sure is plenty attractive and especially since he's so young. But I see him as I would look at Thorin, as a leader. Not how I see Kili. Well, seeing how I saw Kili earlier…. NO. WE ARE NOT GOING THERE BRAIN._ Groaning into my pillow I fight the involuntary images of all the naked dwarves from this morning. "Ughh." There's a knock on my door and I force myself up. Making my involuntary legs to the door, I open it to see Jai standing there all decked out in almost identical garb to mine. Smiling ear to ear he walks in a spins showing how the cloak spun. _What a diva._

"This is so cool!" he exclaimed. Yawning I shoot him some thumbs up and resume my flopped position. "Agni, you can't sleep now. They're calling us out to dinner," Jai tugs on my arm. Remaining limp I just yawn in answer feeling extremely tired. Tugging harder he pulls me off my bed and onto my feet, pushing me out the door. As we get closer to the dining room and I hear the rowdy dwarves I begin to back away slowly. Turning, Jai sees me trying to sneak away. "Where are you going?"

"You will not believe what I saw today," I try and push Jai away as he tries to pull me along again.

"What? It can't possibly be that bad."

"Twelve very naked dwarves bathing in a fountain." At that Jai just stops and stares at me.

"What?"

"Yes. That is what I saw and I will not be able to look them in the eye, especially Bombur without laughing or looking suspicious," I plead trying to convince him to not make me go in there.

He smiles maliciously. "No way Jose. You are coming with me," he commands. As he pulls me along he adds, "This is going to be hilarious." Groaning I succumb to my fate and allow myself to be dragged to my death. As we enter the room, everyone seems to be seated where they were before so that's where we sat as well. Seeing pretty much the same things as before, we dig in not know when we will be getting good food again. Looking around there seemed to be some meat for the dwarves as well. _Good for them. _Feeling a tap on my right shoulder I turn to see Fili.

"Agni, you look tired. What did you do all day?" Fili innocently inquired.

"Oh nothing. Wandered around. Got lost. Looked at some relics and gazed at the sunset," I list keeping out a few parts prompting me to blush. Fili scanned my face seeing my redder cheeks.

"What are you leaving out?" he interrogated with a low voice that held the trust to know my secrets. But considering the fact that he was part of that, I really shouldn't tell him anything.

"Nothing," I say trying to sound slightly offended but failing and sounding like a question instead. Curling my hair around my ear nervously, I turn away and continue eating my food obediently. I can still feel his questioning eyes on me. _Whatever. He'll get over it eventually. Hopefully… _Elbowing Jai I glare at him for putting me in this situation. He shrugs while smiling in non-caring way. _Well, technically he didn't really put me in this situation. I did. Ugh. Let's get the show on the road. _I keep on going as if nothing is wrong. Feeling movement going on my right, I see Fili and Kili switching spots.

"Hello," Kili pleasantly greets me.

"Hey," I reply trying to get over the fact that I saw all of them naked. _It's really not that big of a deal. Calm down. They're never going to find out anyways. What does it matter? _Consoling myself, I am able to look at his beautiful intense brown eyes. "So, how was your day, Kili?"

"Oh. We didn't do much except bathe. It felt so good to finally be clean." I stare at his newly clean state and notice things I hadn't before. His hair is actually a lot lighter than I remember it to be. He was still a dark brunette but now it look a bit lighter and definitely softer. Remembering how he got clean, I quickly look away but then back at him to keep my resolve.

"Yeah. I feel the same. Your hair looks great," I figured it was a good idea to complement his hair considering he _is _a dwarf. Hearing that he beamed in joy. _Jackpot._

"Thank you Agni. And yours does as well," he says back. I briefly touch my short hair which had grown a surprising amount in such a short time. It was already reaching the middle of my neck even with the ends curling up. Nodding my thanks I return to my food which consisted of a type salad that was quickly becoming bland. Giving up on the salad, I nudge Jai.

_**"Hey. Guess who I met today?"**_I ask him wiggling my eyebrows conspiratorially.

_**"Who?"**_

"Aragorn," I say really quietly in his ear so no one would over hear. He leans back and looks at me with wide eyes.

"Really?" he asks incredulously.

"Really," I reply grinning.

"Why do you always get to see all the cool stuff?" he whines.

"Sorry bro. If we're still here tomorrow then I'll take you to go see the Shards of Narsil too and maybe we'll run into _Strider_ on the way," I emphasize Strider telling him to call him that and not his true name. Jai nods and gets a sad look on his face. "What's wrong?"

_**"It's just that I don't want to leave Rivendell yet. It's so nice here and I feel like I could live a thousand lifetimes here,"**_ he explains.

"Trust me, I feel exactly the same," I agree. Suddenly all the dwarves start getting up so we follow suit. They all go towards their communal sleeping/eating area. Jai and I follow in the back when I notice a shadow watching me. It was a tall broad-shouldered person with their hood up leaning against a wall at the end of the hallway. Freaking out for a moment, I realize it's Aragorn. Looking closely with the aid of the hallway torches I see his strong jaw and brooding eyes. Sending a nod my way, he begins to move away but I wave at him to stop and gesture for a second telling him to wait. Grabbing Jai, I point his way and tell him, "Look, there's Strider." Jai gets excited but control his face and consents to me pulling him along.

After reaching Strider I introduce them, "Strider, my brother Jai. Jai, a stranger I bumped into, Strider. They shake hands.

Third Person P.O.V.

The dwarves watch as Agni and Jai greet a shadow in the dark. They whisper amongst themselves as they see the odd shaking of hands they exchanged. Fili and Kili exchange dark glances as they see the smile on Agni and Jai's faces. All the dwarves were thinking the same thing, who is the shadow in the dark that has so enamored their odd guests?


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note**

** Hey guys. How's it goin'? Here's some replies to some much appreciated reviews.**

**Marina Oakenshield: **_Thanks a lot. It's nice to know my writing skills haven't rusted over yet. ;)_

**Guest Reviewer: **_Thank you so much! It means a lot to me that you loved my story. Especially now that I went back and edited all the chapters. BOTFA was so sad. I'm sure everyone else in this fandom cried. I'll try and update as much as I can. I am also very happy that you like the 'slow-building romance with Kili'. That's one thing I'm not sure about; I feel like it is non-existent._

**Guest Reviewer 2: **_I suspect you are the same person as before but just in case I am making two replies. SPOILER. Well not really but I am going to delay their time in Rivendell which you will see in this chapter. I think that's a very, very interesting idea for one of my OC's to find the ring but for the sake of the future of Bilbo and Frodo and maybe other fanfics I may write, I cannot allow that. It is a very big part of the stories in Middle Earth so I do not have the heart to change it. But I appreciate your ideas. Please, continue with the suggestions. They're so very helpful. :) _

**Watergoddesskasey: **_Thank you. I need all the encouragement I can get._

**I don't have much time now-a-days to update. You guys all know that so I am very glad many of you are still reading. IT HAS BEEN ONE YEAR SINCE I PUBLISHED THIS STORY. April 4, 2014 – April 4, 2015. I am so disappointed in myself. One year and they're just in Rivendell. Oh well. Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"Well, Agni told me about you. You are obviously human, Strider. So what are you doing here?" my brother clatters on.

Nervously I look at Aragorn to see his reaction to my brother's bold statement. To my surprise he has humor in his eyes and a good-natured smile on his face. "Oh nothing much. Just visiting old friends." Jai just nods still in slight awe. "But I do believe that I will take my leave of you. I see your dwarf friends do not seem to like my presence," Aragorn says while nodding towards the company. I turn slightly to see Fili and Kili standing staring darkly at Aragorn.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Jai extends his hand again and they shake. I extend my hand for a shake as well but when he takes it, instead of shaking he kisses my knuckles again. Blushing slightly I gently take my hand back.

"Good bye. Maybe we'll see you soon," I wave as we turn and go on our ways.

"Maybe," he calls back. Smiling at that, we reach Fili and Kili who look murderous.

"Who was that?" Kili asks accusatorially. "Was that some _elf?_" he spits out the word 'elf' like a curse word.

"No it was not. And what does it matter to you?" I ask offended.

"I – we - ," Kili stumbles with his words a bit.

"We don't want anything to jeopardize the future of this quest," Fili swoops in with his most regal and commanding voice making him seem like the king he is meant to be.

Jai and I look at each other both conveying varying degrees emotions; outrage, sadness, anger, and surprise. "Well, if that's how it's gonna be then fine. Just let me tell you two something, **we**, **I** would never do anything to hurt your goddamn quest. Got it?" I say low and angrily to them. Spinning on my heel, I drag Jai away who looked like he wanted to get a word in.

_**"Do you believe this? After all this time they still don't trust us? Well, it has been just a few weeks but Thorin is okay with us, but why can't his nephews be?! They're so much more laid back and it seems that the trust thing has gone the opposite way; first the brooding least trust-giving person in the world trusts us and then his chill nephews don't trust us? What irony," **_I rant to Jai as we make it to our rooms which are thankfully side-by-side. To my surprise Jai just laughs. "What?" I ask confused.

"Nothing, nothing," he brushes me off as we reach our rooms. "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Haha. Bro, we're in Rivendell. Bed bugs probably don't exist here," I joke waving good night. Laughing we both walk into our respective rooms. Wondering if there were any different clothes to sleep in, I look in the giant ornate armoire in the corner of my room. Pulling open the doors I find a beautiful white silk gown. Carefully but quickly removing my awesome elf clothes I pull on the nightgown. It was simple but slightly sheer. _No one's going to see me in this anyways. _I get into the bed and finally relax my tense muscles into one of the softest beds I've ever slept on. _Ugh, if we have to get up in the middle of the night, I am going to slap someone._ Those were my last thoughts before I drifted away into nothingness.

* * *

Third Person P.O.V. after Agni and Jai left

"Looks like you upset them, especially Agni," Bofur says roasting a sausage on a fire made from the elven furniture. Sighing heavily, Kili sits down on a sofa in the corner alcove. Pulling out his pipe he decides to light it.

"I don't understand. Who was that man? Why did she let him kiss her hand? Moreover, why did Jai let him? He is supposed to protect her from strangers," Kili lets out a string of questions getting more and more riled up by the second.

"Laddie, it is not a big deal. It was just a greeting. If she was uncomfortable with it then she would have not went over to him in the first place," Bofur tries to comfort. Fili sits down next to his brother and pats his back.

"Brother, it is fine. Right now though I do not think she will be happy to see either of us. I do believe we have been rather rude, especially me," Fili sighs looking at his feet. Kili looks at his brother and swings his arm around his shoulders.

"We'll just apologize tomorrow. Hopefully she won't stay mad at us for too long," Kili hopes.

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

_Why do they keep doing this? How come they can't just be a little less over protective? Jai is okay with it, then why can't they see that if anything was wrong, Jai would protect me? Maybe not in the way that they imagine but he would keep me away. He would tell me what's right and what's wrong because he is my brother. Just remember what happened when Thorin almost slapped me; Jai pulled me away and we ran. Probably wasn't that great of an idea, but hey, he was trying to protect me. _My brain was swirling with too many thoughts. Waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to sleep again is what causes my brain to think about things I'd rather not think about. _This is the second time they've snapped at us since we arrived in Rivendell. Maybe they're just wound up because of the elves. Thorin's way more wound up and he's nicer to us. Well, for now I guess. Whatever. I should try to sleep. _

I rolled over onto my stomach and closed my eyes hoping for sweet sleep. "Unghh," I groan and punch my pillow in annoyance. All I want is some sleep and even that's not happening. Pushing myself out of bed, I walk out onto my balcony. _Yes, balcony. Wow, these elves have got everything. _Leaning against the railing I look down at the water falling under me. Sighing, my head falls into my hands. "Why does everything have to be so hard?" I whisper to myself.

* * *

**Jai P.O.V.**

I left my room after a few hours of sleep looking for some food. Looks like I didn't eat too much at dinner. Whatever. Maybe I'll find someone to help me. Roaming around in the moonlight I come across where all the dwarves are sleeping. Coming across them I see the only one who's awake is Fili; it seems as though he is on watch. He sat by the fire, poking it with a stick. Stepping over snoring dwarves, beards, and stray possessions, I make my way over to the fire. Sitting down next to Fili I ask him a question: "Why don't you trust us?"

Fili finally looks at me with sadness in his eyes. "I would like to sincerely apologize Jai. It was not our place to question your loyalty," he says quietly.

"It's fine. I don't feel bad at all. It's just Agni doesn't think the same way as me. She forgives people easily but if it keeps getting repeated, she will lash out after a while," I explain. "I don't want her to lash out at you guys and I don't think she wants to either. Just, trust us. We are on your side."

"I believe you. It is just that sometimes, especially here in an elven abode, I am trained to be suspicious. I have to be for the sake of my family and this quest. It is my duty as heir," Fili explain.

"I will never understand the responsibility of the throne that you have but I think we both know the responsibility of an older brother," I say to him smiling slightly. "Fili, I know that Kili didn't react the way he did because of any kind of 'duty'. I think we both know what it was."

"Jealousy," we both say simultaneously.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note**

** Hey guys. I'm really sorry. I know it's been 8 months since I updated and I'm a horrible person and thank you so much for your follows, favorites, and reviews. HUGE thanks to my new Beta-reader Ace1997. She has written for Star Wars, so if you're into that, go check it out. It's called It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad War. She is an amazing writer by the way. I'll be updating more frequently than before so yay! I hope you enjoy Chapter 20. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Except Agni and Jai. Everything else belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

* * *

Agni P.O.V.

"What we need is a few good taters," announced the chubby hobbit, Sam. I swirled around at a mention of my kind. I wonder what he wants to do with us.

The gangly, pale, disfigured one, Gollum, looked confused. "What's taters, precious? What's taters, eh?"

I huffed at his cluelessness. We taters are many and cover the globe. However, of late, we have been kidnapped, pulled out of our warm homes, taken away from the friendly earthworms, to be tortured and eaten. A tear slipped down my face at the thought of the horrors they had to suffer. Until this day, I had not yet encountered a tater-eater, nor had I ever been in danger. I always thank whoever may be the almighty tater for this luck. I shifted my attention as the fat hobbit began to speak.

"Po-tay-toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew... Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish."

I gasp at his audacity as angry tears poured down my face. _How dare he say such horrible things?! Oh my goodness! He's a…a...tater-eater! He has eaten my people, and he loves it. A MONSTER! _I open my mouth to voice my distress, but no noise comes out. Bouncing around, I attempt to gain their attention but they don't even glance my way. Can't they see me jumping around? My focus is drawn away from the savage as Gollum made a noise of disgust while sticking his tongue out.

The horrible person spoke again, "Even you couldn't say no to that."

_Oh yes I can, you monstrosity. I am gonna come over there and beat your ass._ Gollum takes the thoughts straight out of my head.

"Oh yes we could. Spoilin' nice fish. Give it to us raw and w-r-r-riggling; you keep nasty chips." As disgusting as that sounded, I agreed with the gangly thing.

"You're hopeless," said the fat beast as he banged his spoon against the pot of stew. He hit it very loudly, jarring my already emotionally unstable mind.

Then, through all the different emotions and thoughts running around in my mind about the torture of my people, I realize one thing. I am not a potato.

* * *

I am jolted awake and the sound of the spoon morphs into a knocking on my door. _Was I really just a potato? _As I slowly process the sound, I groan in frustration and in pain at the sudden soreness in my ribs. Is it morning already? The knocking grew into a pounding on the door. Who could it possibly be? _Please go away. Please go away. _However, the knocking persisted.

Grumbling, I dragged myself out of bed and to the door. Glancing out the window, a pink sunrise was just beginning to tinge the skies. _It's the freaking buttcrack of dawn._

"Whoever this is better have an _extremely _good reason…" I trail off while opening the door.

I push up the latch and pull open the door to see a torso. Quite a fit torso, if you ask me. That torso was wearing a navy blue tunic with delicate gold embroidery. The arms and neck connected to this attractive midsection had small golden vines embroidered in as well.

With growing confusion, I crane my neck up to finally see his head. Golden brown eyes with dark defiant eyebrows stared back with disinterest. Rather than rounded ones, pointed ears peeked through stark black hair which fell gracefully down his back. However, an impatient look marred his lovely elvish face.

"I was sent to tend to your wounds," he said with a huff.

I blink in befuddlement, still groggy from waking up. He looked unusual even for an elf, with his jet black hair. I've never seen an elf with black hair before.

"You whaa…" my voice, still rough from sleeping, was almost unintelligible. Clearing my throat, I continue, "Who are you?"

"I am Nestarin," he states arrogantly.

"And, so, why are you here?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"If you were not already listening, I am here to tend to your wounds," he repeats obnoxiously louder, looking down his nose at me. "I doubt they are even worth it," he mumbles under his breath.

"Where's the healer lady that helped me before?" I asked, still skeptical.

"She has more important duties," Nestarin said haughtily.

Frowning at his attitude, I let him in, glancing at his medical looking basket on the way. It held a variety of bottles, sachets, and plenty of bandages. _Seems legit._ He went directly to the table by the balcony and began setting up, claiming the space as if it was his.

For such a charming exterior, his personality sure was lacking. He contradicts everything that I know elves to be with his annoying and conceited demeanor. I expected a healer, especially an elven healer, to have a little more restraint.

Huffing slightly, I strode over and waited for his doctorly instructions but secretly I wished I was wearing boots so I could've stomped over loudly. Crossing my arms, I stare at his tall body, leaning over the table and taking a few rolls of bandages out of the basket.

Finally he spoke, "First, I will check on the wound on your thigh, and then your ribs." His eyes critically scanned my body up and down, taking in my defiant pose. It was as if he knew that keeping my arms crossed for this long was putting some strain on my ribs. Slowly I let my arms down to my sides as he smirks knowingly.

Rolling my eyes, I respond, nodding at him so he would just get on with it. Nestarin carelessly gestures towards an empty chair with a swish of his arm. He raises an eyebrow expectantly. Sighing at his attitude, I sit down.

It is at this very moment when I realize what I'm wearing. I was still in the white, slightly sheer, shin-length sleeping gown which I had worn only because I thought no one would see me in it.

My face warms in embarrassment but I push it aside, wanting to get this over with. There isn't much I can do about anyways. Slowly, I stretch out my leg and watch with growing apprehension as Nestarin's deft fingers push up my gown, stopping just above the wound.

I swallow nervously. _Ugh. He's just a male doctor. Nothing different. Except for the fact that I've never had an extremely attractive, elvish male doctor before. _Attempting to drown out my immature thoughts, I focus on what Nestarin is doing.

He reached for my bandage and began expertly unraveling it. I let out a small sigh when a fresh breeze flowed over my wound, giving it some cool relief. _Ahh. _However, Nestarin's mumbling soon pulled me out of my short-lived heaven.

"They sent me here to deal with a paper cut? I could be doing better things with my time," he hissed under his breath.

This guy was getting more and more on my nerves by the second. I don't give a crap if his highness, Nessie or whatever, wants to be here or not. All he needs to do is heal me right, then we'll never have to see each other again.

Letting out a frustrated breath, I ask, "Hey, how does it look?"

"It seems to be healing fine," he replies curtly.

I raise an eyebrow at his vagueness. "Umm, anything else? Does it need to be bandaged again?" I stare at my tiny stab wound, which had a scab forming. It was still an angry red around the edges, but otherwise it seemed fine.

Nestarin ran his fingers over it, which sent unwanted shivers down my spine. "No I do not believe it needs to be bandaged." He rolls up my old bandages and shoves them into a separate part of his basket.

Turning back to me, he catches me pushing my gown back down. Giving me a small, devious smile he says, "Stand up. You are going to have to hold up your gown for me."

I felt my face warm again. Standing up, I begin to bend down when he stops me. "Let me do that. I do not want you to strain yourself even more." Nestarin bends down and begins rolling up my gown painstakingly slow. It was like he was purposely trying to torture me.

Finally, he stopped right below my bra and gestured for me to take it. As soon as I took it, he immediately began to unravel my bandages without a backwards glance towards my elf issue underwear. His cool fingers brushed against my bare skin with goosebumps leaving a trail. _Stupid body. Stop reacting._

As the last strip of bandage left my body, I looked down to get a good look at my ribs. The bruising had gone down a little bit with a yellowish tinge around the borders but it was generally still blueish black.

Nestarin's eyebrows fell in confusion as he gently prodded my midsection. If his fingers weren't causing me pain, I would have liked the cool feeling. _That's weird. Time to stop._

"Did you speak loudly yesterday or do some kind of strenuous activity?" he asked, looking up at me, his golden brown eyes showing some concern rather than annoyance.

"Yes, actually, I did. Why?" I ask raising my eyebrows, curious as to why he was asking.

"And did your ribs feel sore when you woke up this morning? Rather than sore, I should say, did they feel painful this morning?" he corrected himself. Looking away from me briefly he continued examining my ribs, poking my sides as well as my front.

"You mean when _you _woke me up this morning?" I retort. He glances up briefly with an annoyed look. "Okay, okay. Yeah, they did feel quite painful this morning."

"Today, you are not to do anything. I mean it. The only movement you are allowed is walking. But only short distances." Nestarin orders me, standing up at his full height, enforcing the full seriousness of his instructions. "Do you understand?"

"I understand," I respond, taking in his instructions fully. He gives me a stern nod and begins rebandaging my ribs, a little tighter than they were before. Every time he went around, it was like he was hugging me. I must have gotten at least eight hugs from good ol' Nessie.

When he was finally done, he clipped it shut and I released my gown. The feeling of cloth against my skin made me sigh in relief. _Finally, I'm not half naked._

Nestarin began packing up all his bottles and sachets in his perfect organizational way. His jet black hair whooshed around as he turned to face me. His eyes showed his disinterest once more and impatience was displayed on his beautiful face.

"Follow my instructions. I will come back at this time tomorrow," he declared. After his announcement he immediately turned and walked towards the door, his long strides had me hurrying to catch up.

He opened the door and as he was walking out I called out a thank you. He just waved a hand and continued on his way.

Sighing in immense relief, I lean against the doorway. Momentarily closing my eyes, a small smile makes its way onto my face, thankful that that slightly traumatic event was over.

* * *

Kili P.O.V.

I pause at the corner, indecision holding me back. Agni is angry with me, of that I am sure. Whether or not I can make amends with her, I do not know. I feel I must apologize, yet I do not believe I have done any wrong. My only intent was to protect her from the attentions of the elves. Those scheming, pale, and abnormally tall creatures would only hurt her.

Stifling a yawn, I nervously shuffled my feet, reluctant to continue. What if I offend her once more, even if I am trying not to? It always seems to happen with me. But Jai never protects his sister as a brother should. If he does not do his job, someone has to and if that someone has to be me, so be it. I do not understand why I care for this girl who is practically a stranger, but she always seems to enter my thoughts.

My reverie was interrupted by her voice, calling out a thank you to someone. Curious, I turn the corner and am surprised to see an elf leaving Agni's room. My breath catches in my throat as I see her let out a content sigh and close her eyes, smiling. What is she so happy about? Looking at the elf, he does not look familiar so who is he? What was he doing with Agni? The elf, with hair as black as night passed me, looking down with contempt.

It seems to me that there is a smirk upon his mug of a face. I think to confront him, but I do not want seek the wrath of our elven hosts, not to mention Agni. With my fists clenched at my sides, I continued towards Agni, whose eyes were still closed. If that elf has done her any wrong, I will personally cut off all of his pretty black hair and shove it down his throat.

My steps alert her of my presence. At first her eyes are blank of any recognition, but soon they are wide open, completely taken aback. My anger spreads as I take in her state of dress.

She was in a sheer, white, silken gown. Looking down I notice something truly appalling that makes me blush, her ankles were uncovered. The length of her gown only reached the middle of her shins, leaving them completely bare. She was not even wearing any shoes.

Maybe the elf had not hurt her, after all. Her smile was genuine and she truly seemed content. But why would she be happy about the elf? Unless…unless there is something more between the two of them that I am unaware of.

However, I should not accuse her so hastily as I have done in the past. I have already offended her twice. I will not make the mistake once more.

"Who was that elf with the black hair?" I asked, struggling to keep my voice from betraying my suspicions.

"Oh, that was nobody," she says flippantly with a wave of her hand. Agni seemed surprised to see me, but otherwise she appeared to be in a light mood.

"Oh really? Why would you let him see you like this?" I gestured with my chin to her outfit, unable to keep my displeasure at bay. She seemed confused for a moment before looking down at herself and appearing to realize what she was wearing. An indignant look appeared on her face as she loosely crosses her arms.

"What are you talking about?" she reacted heatedly, furrowing her eyebrows. "He's just a healer. It doesn't matter what he sees me in."

"Well, then what was that sigh for? After he left, you sighed," my nails were digging into my palms, carving in crescents as my clenched fists tightened. Her eyes narrowed in growing anger at my accusations.

"Why do you care? It's none of your business," she winced as her voice rose, as if it pained her.

"Of course it is my business. You are under the protection of our company, so it is my obligation to keep you safe." I explain to her in frustration, still unsure as to why she does not understand.

"Kili, what are you trying to say?" she says, lowering her voice to a cold fury, her stance becoming more closed off.

"I - I do not think you should be consorting with elves," I stammer out. As soon as the words leave my lips, I realize my grave mistake. I might as well have just accused her of bedding an elf. I try to apologize, "Wait, Agni-"

But I am too late. Agni had already slammed the door on my face.


End file.
